Kingdom Hearts 2006 Halloween Special
by Person With Many Aliases
Summary: Also known as Kingdom Hearts: Knockin' on Heaven's Door. With a mysterious villain threatening Twilight Town with a BioTerrorist attack, it's up to a bunch of unruly Keyblade carrying bounty hunters, their dog, and their ship Kingdom Hearts to stop him.
1. Part 1

A/N: I often wondered if I should have done this for this year's Halloween Special. What with my lack of playing the second game, and the technological discontinuities, and the utter nightmare that was the re-casting of this work. Still, I think I like it enough to give it a go, but be wary of probable Out Of Characters in the upcoming. I might also warn for camp and possibility of crap, as so advised by a flamer of my last special. Again, the events herein are based off the animated movie, _Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door_, so if you watched the movie, more of the same. If not, then you realize that you've just spoiled yourself. You've been warned.

Have Fun.

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**Executive Producer: Person With Many Aliases**

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_There is a room. There a man plays a board game of solitaire, letting each glass bead jump over the other, removing each little orb with every step…_

_He was just… all alone._

_In a corner, a butterfly flew. One of his hands was under the table, massaging a pile of the marbles he held. Eventually it went limp, letting them scatter across the floor, reflecting the weak light._

_He couldn't enjoy a game with anyone else. Like living inside a dream…_

_That's the kind of man he was._

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"Oi… Sora… wake up… I said wake up!"

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It was night; black shoes paced their way across the streets of Traverse Town towards possibly the only convenience store that existed in the entire place. Therein, things did not fare so well.

The woman behind the cash register was fairly young, only taking the job to make a bit of extra money. More hours meant more money, so she didn't complain about working late at night.

She wasn't sure about complaining about the man in the black raincoat and eye patch that was sitting on the counter, telling her to stick her hands in the air. Especially with that Magic Gun of his, plus a few other similarly dressed men guarding the other store-goers with weapons, with one other keeping watch over the front door.

"Got it? The world's like a steaming pot of stew, no ingredient more important than the other. In the end, you just see the combined product. But there is one thing you can't forget." The guy with the eye patch leaned forward, "Know what it is?"

The woman twitched for a second before attempting an answer, "…Meat?"

Eye Patch leaned back with a sigh, "That's what everyone thinks… but without stew base, it's not stew. With the same ingredient you could make… curry!"

"…The stew base is in aisle-"

"I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT!" Eye Patch roared, before firing a burst of light through the window above the girl.

Outside, a teenager with silver hair sighed at the sight of the shattering glass. "Man, that robber sure whines a lot…" moving to more important matters, he spoke into his radio. "Sora, let's go. I'm going in from the back."

A tired voice fizzled back, while the speaker was slowly pacing towards the store with black shoes. "_Okay…"_

Back inside, Eye Patch continued his sermon, "If you're waiting for the police, it's useless. We've got the security of this place all scoped out. Why else do you think we're doing this?"

One of robbers in the back shouted. "Xigbar, shut up and just do it already!"

Xigbar, with his large gun, tapped the side of cash register nothing the design that was printed on it, "This is a mark of my organization. I used to work there. Then I got laid off, and I became a robber."

"I see." The cashier lady decided to say.

"You think it's funny?"

"Um…"

"Why don't you laugh then?"

She gave a stifled chuckle.

"Is it funny?"

She decided to keep laughing, before Xigbar joined in as well for a second, before shoving his gun into her face, "I didn't tell you to laugh!"

Outside, at the main entrance, one of the robbers noticed a figure approaching nonchalantly, with his hands in his pockets. It was some kid about 15 years old, with brown hair that seemed to never have met a comb in its life, with hair shooting out in spikes every which way. The boy was held down fairly well in dark clothing with red, blue, and yellow accessories, and a large silver necklace. He was also wearing a pair of headphones on his head.

"Oi, this place is closed, go someplace else."

The kid didn't seem to notice, instead finding something on his shoe interesting.

"Hey! Are you even listening?"

Finally, the robber looked down to what had exactly so enraptured to kid. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the kid's foot suddenly flying upwards into his face.

Therein, Xigbar was finally getting to the conclusion of his speech, as he pulled out a small bag. "If you understand any of this, put all the money in this bag, got it?"

Just then, the doorbell jingled, as the Kid with Headphones paced in, ignoring everything as he immediately moved to an aisle and started picking through the products. Xigbar immediately trained his gun on him.

"Who're you!?"

No response. Apparently the headphones were playing something loud.

"Hey! Are you listening to me!?" Muttering something savage, Xigbar jumped off the counter, gaining the attention of the other robbers in the back, as they watched him move to the kid.

Closer, Xigbar raised his gun again and shouted, "Take those off and listen to me!"

The kid picked up a small tube and grinned at the Sermonic Robber, "I'll take this!"

"What-"

Without notice, the firecracker ripped open into a display of red and yellow flashes, blinding Xigbar's lone eye, while he struggled to fire. Next he knew, his gun was suddenly knocked out of his hand, before a foot slammed into the side of his knee, bringing him forward into a round house kick that sent Xigbar head first into the store racks. He didn't get up.

"You little-" A robber began, distinguished by his bleached hair and beard and his playing cards, which he threw with enough force to cause gouges in the walls of the building as he attacked the kid, while he rolled away. A second later, another kid with silver hair fell from the rafters above next to the final robber, who wore a crew cut and carried some unwieldy stringed instrument. He proceeded to plant a fist into the coated figure, bringing him down. On the other side, the brunette had just thrown the card-wielding robber into the glass of a donut stand, while catching one of the pastries in midair.

"Sora, you okay?" The other teenager called over the hunched form of his thief.

Sora, managed to swallow down a "Yeah", before turning to the cashier and pulling off his headphones, "Yeah… could you put the donut on their tab?"

"Er…"

The three of them noticed the sounds of a flushing toilet, while another man in a black raincoat and dreadlocks came out, brushing the dirt of his coat.

They all saw each other.

An awkward pause.

The robber choked, rushed to one of the hostages, and elderly lady, and conjured a magic spear to her neck. "Don't move!"

Sora gave something in between a frown and a sigh. "Riku…"

"Yeah?"

"You said were only three guys inside the building."

("Drop you weapons now!" the robber went in the background)

"Well… if you want to deceive the enemy, you have to start your friends." Riku managed to shrug out with a feasible enough excuse. It didn't work for Sora.

"And how does tricking me help!?" Sora shouted, pointing a finger at his friend indignantly.

("Are you guys even listening to me!?")

"And you! Don't talk to me like that! You took too long in the bathroom!"

"Shut up! Don't you care if she dies?" Dreadlocks threatened, while pressing his blade closer to the lady's throat.

Riku acquiesced, sighed, and dropped his key chain of an eyed wing to the ground.

On the other hand, Sora confidently pulled out his key chain of a silver crown design, where it morphed in a ray of light into a Keyblade pointed straight at the robber-hostage duo.

Dreadlocks blinked in disbelief for a second before shoving his hostage forward for Sora's better look. "Don't you see my holding my weapon to this lady? Aren't you listening!? I'll really hurt her!"

Sora addressed the elderly lady instead, "Sorry, Grandma, but we're not really security guards or police, or any of that stuff really. Our concern's not really about civilian lives, you know."

Sora let a portion of his mouth into a smirk, "Not you lucky day today, robber."

Dreadlocks: "Damn, an actual cowboy…"

Riku: "Sora wait, you just can't-"

Grandma: "YOU LOW LIFE! I OUGHTA-"

Between the various staggered comments between the three at Sora's actions, the final robber decided he had enough and pointed the tip of his spear at Sora instead, prepared to release a spell-

"FIRE!"

Amidst the screams, Mr. Dreadlocks was knocked backwards by a mass of low-level burning magic orbs that threw him into a stand full of drinks, and knocked his weapon out of the way. The weight of the products weighing down on him, and his battered head was enough to knock him out.

A silence, before the old woman turned to the brunette who was backing away. "You're… a cowboy? Really, who are you?"

Sora dramatically blew at the tip of his smoking blade, before spinning it about, magic dissipating the weapon back into a key chain that spun around his fingers a few time. He gave a sheepish grin.

"Just an average bounty hunter."

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**Kingdom Hearts: 2006 Halloween Special **

**Production of: Person With Many Aliases\ Disney\ Square-Enix**

**Based on the Story by: Hajime Yatate**

**Character Design: Tetsuya Nomura**

**Co-Director: Person With Many Aliases**

**Director: Shinichiro Watanabe**

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Twilight Town. An entire planet that was eternally in a state of sunset, never day, never night. Except once every year, when Twilight Town finally experiences a complete nightfall, since then forever celebrated as the event Halloween.

Making its final approach to the capital city was a large Gummi ship that housed several bounty hunters that had just made their return from Traverse Town. Emblazoned proudly against the side of the ship was the name _Kingdom Hearts._

Inside, Sora and Riku sat around a game of chess (For some reason, the nutter who made the pieces decided to paint the black side in red instead). Riku was sitting patiently. Sora was tapping his foot with excess energy, unable to wait.

"Hurry up and go, Riku, I'm getting bored."

"Don't rush me…" Was the retort, while the silver-haired youth finally decided on moving a pawn forward. Sora's hand immediately slid a bishop, much to Riku's surprise.

"…You don't think before you move?"

"Just go already…"

Riku frowned, "You know, in a game of chess, you're supposed to think ahead and predict your opponent's move-"

Sora yawned.

"-and when the timing is right, be where your opponent wants to be. Being one step ahead is the true challenge of chess. You just can't move around wherever you want… and your bishop is where I want to move."

"'Course Riku!" the resident key master grinned, "You can't win at chess if you just stick to the rules and nothing but it."

A sigh, "You really just don't get it, do you Sora? You know, a game of chess also shows one's personality. If you just play around and do whatever you want-"

"Just move already, Riku…"

"Sora. What would have happened if that hostage did get injured?" Riku finally got around to, with a lecturing glare. Sora shrugged.

"Whatever happens happens."

Riku raised his arms in a shrug, meanwhile the resident adopted-against-their-will pet, Pluto had wandered by before standing on the table, looking at the chessboard with interest.

The silver-haired youth mused, "As usual, for a bounty worth only 125,000 Munny, there's too much risk involved. And bounty hunting already harder than just that… You know, before the two of us left home, I had a fairly simple life." Riku then noticed the dog some how miraculously sliding a rook to the side with his paw before looking at the boy.

"I'm surprised… that's the move I wanted to make! How about that, Sora?"

The boy in question was snoring.

Nearby, a blonde girl finished her work on an arcane powered laptop, and gave a quiet smile to herself, "Found him…"

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While _Kingdom Hearts_ made its way to a watery landing on the harbors outside Twilight Town, a smaller, single pilot gummi made circling passes above the city. In the cockpit, a girl's hand quickly flipped through the various channels on the radio installed into _Oath Keeper_'s control panel.

Finding a tune suitably fast and catchy, the pilot allowed her fingers the thrum against the flight sticks, while a head nodded with the beat, red tresses bouncing everywhere. A sound of a message coming through on her control panel caught her attention.

"_Hello, Kairi! Ship number 12 unloaded, and it's moving its cargo through route 8!"_

"M'kay, Namine. Send the car and the bounty's info, I'll take it from here."

_"Got it…"_

Namine's face was replaced by two screens showing a yellow tanker, and the face of a young boy that looked strangely similar to Sora, if not for the differing hairstyle and color.

Kairi frowned, "Why is it that I always have to deal with kids my age these days…?"

Putting the thought on hold, the girl kicked her ship into action, _Oath Keeper_ soaring deeper into the city, before following the paths of the newly built highways that entwined portions of the older city. This seemed simple enough. Follow the tanker, wait till it stops, punch the kid in the face and turn him in, and head back to _Kingdom Hearts _for dinner.

Soon enough the small gummi ship fell behind a large yellow tanker truck. All Kairi had to do now was wait, while tapping her fingers to the beats of her radio-

The tanker started peeling off the highway into the emergency side lanes.

_What's he doing stopping in the middle of the road?_

As the tanker came to a stop, Kairi's ship flew past before hovering above the concrete bridge, curious.

In the light of the eternal sunset, the door of the driver's seat opened up, letting black clothing spill out. Soon enough the entire figure emerged, simply walking away from the truck. A lanky figure with a black trench coat with red highlights, silver hair, and a strange way of making every movement look disturbingly… _beautiful._

Well, whoever it was, it was obvious it wasn't the same little punk Kairi was expecting.

Next thing she knew, _Oath Keeper _was suddenly thrown away by an explosion, the tanker disappearing in ball of flame, scattering concrete and metal everywhere amidst a shocked population.

Despite that, Kairi kept looking around from her position as she brought her ship back under control, trying to find the man behind this. She caught sight of billowing black figure standing on the edge of the highway, atop the barriers. Down below, the man turned around to look up at the ship, arm covering his eyes to protect him from the wind.

The two of them "stared" for a time, Kairi herself unsure what to do.

The man in black on the other hand, simply dropped off the side of the highway, disappearing out of view. Bringing her vehicle over the side of the highway as well, even Kairi couldn't find a sign of the man anywhere, escaping, or a mere puddle on the ground. He simply was gone.

She could only get one thought out _…WHAT THE HECK?!_

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Back on _Kingdom Hearts_, Sora and Riku watched the news on the arcane screen, looking curiously at the top story of some sort of chemical explosion. After the initial explosion, people as far and three kilometers away were collapsing for no reason. But no one knew the cause of the explosion, or what was even going on. Given the stolen tanker, there was a possibility of bio-terrorism.

"Every station is talking about nothing but this." Riku noted aloud.

"Again…"

"What, Sora?"

The boy in question stared down at his meal. "It seemed like last night we also had instant noodles…"

"What are you talking about? We've been having instant noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past three days."

"I see… I thought it was a dream…" Sora mumbled in a philosophical tone, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling lamps.

Riku reached into the cardboard box nearby, taking out other packages, "Well, if you have a problem with that, we also have… instant Udon…. instant Soba… we also have instant Sushi… but that expired a year ago…"

"Nevermind."

Despite that, Sora still dug into the food with enough appetite, still whining all the way through. Namine and Pluto didn't seem to mind, though.

"Seriously, Riku… humans weren't made to each only dried food. We also need protein."

"Meaning?"

"I'm saying meat tastes good." Was the deadpanned retort.

"Then make sure next time you go after a bounty, it's a big one, not some small-time robber." Riku chuckled.

About this time, the door to the main room they were in opened up, letting Kairi inside.

"Hey, Kairi! How was it?" Sora cheerfully called out.

"How was it? Better listen to the story then…"

"That's right, you were saying something like "A small time magic-hacker? I'll just pick him up after I make some money at Setzer's place." I don't see either, though."

"Oh, be quiet Riku. You know Setzer's place is fun. Besides, there was some weird explosion…" Kairi muttered as she picked through her dinner choices, before noticing the news. "Oh yeah, that one!"

Sora and Riku choked, "You were there!?"

Kairi didn't notice as she closed in on the screen, "So there's a big fuss about it… hmm… virus… weapon… hmm…huh?"

About this time she looked back to see everybody else in the room slowly backing away from her.

"Hey! What's with you guys? Hey! What- even you Pluto!?"

"S-stay away Kairi! You might have a space disease or something!" Namine managed to let slip as she hid behind the sofa. Wrong words, though.

The room degenerated into cacophony, as a livid Kairi chased down whoever was in the room, particularly Sora, since he was closest.

"Space disease!? I"ll Show you space disease! I ought to-"

"Wait! Kairi! Let go-urk!"

It was about the moment Kairi was latched around the key master's neck and crushing his temples that the news on the screen came up with an announcement:

**"-due to the severity of the crime, the government has decided to place a 300,000,000 Munny bounty on the apprehension of the perpetrator of this attack…"**

Cacophany stopped, a combined melody of only a number replacing all previous:

"Three hundred MILLION!?"

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Across the city of Twilight Town, the hospital was in distress, as patients afflicted from the mysterious bio-attack continued to trickle in. Pacing down the hall towards the quarantined zone for those particular hospitalized were two characters, for those familiar with the King's court from the Disney Kingdom.

The mere sight of the anthromorphic duck and dog, otherwise known as Donald, Royal Wizard, and Goofy, Captain of the Knights, was already enough for the guards the let them pass the doors into the quarantine zone. As they passed by the glass of the air tight chambers, they watched with grim dissatisfaction at one of the stricken attempt to feebly reach for the fluorescent lights above, not knowing anything else.

They were met with a doctor soon enough in the seated area of waiting room, where he giving a debriefing of all that had occurred, "It's strange, I've never seen anything like it before. On most of the patients, I can see some brain activity, but I still don't know what It did to them, though."

"Well, we haven't found anything either!" Donald harrumphed, while the doctor continued his analysis

"In most of the patients we saw normal body activity… but they don't have any form of coherent thought. They just react to stimuli, as if they… lost their souls. And it only gets worse."

"Worse than natural causes? Or a virus?"

"If anything, the best I can compare it to is AIDS. But we still can't figure out what it is though."

"What are you talking about? Shouldn't there be anything-"

"We've checked the blood. Nothing. There's no evidence of anything ever being there. Now, the only thing I can think of is… a new type of virus, or biological weapon, and a tremendously powerful one at that."

The doctor froze up at the sound of a sneeze hitching up.

"Nyyrggh…agghh-ACHOOO!"

Goofy sniffled and rubbed his nose before noticing Donald and the doctor on their feet, frozen in horror, "Ah, geez! I'm sorry! I got aller…allergies, ya know?"

The tension subsided, embarrassed. The doctor, having said all he could say, left the two guardians to mull about the issue.

"Umm, really, I thought they cleared up, ya know, Donald-Ahyuck!" Goofy managed to explain, ending in his customary hiccups. "Maybe that virus is spreading it. Ya think someone is spreading it?"

Donald snorted, folding his arms, "Whoever he is, he's only teasing us right now."

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At Kairi's behest, Namine inserted a disc into the laptop, letting the entire construct come to life. Riku, seated on the table, and Sora, hogging the sofa, were doubtful.

"Are you sure this is safe, Kairi?" Sora mumbled.

"Even if it isn't, I'm expecting you to come with me after this bounty, alright?"

"Got it." Namine called out, calling everyone's attention to the arcane screen.

"Bio-Terrorism…" Riku read one line aloud, "Hey Sora, take a look at this."

"Geez, I guess I'm really stuck in this…"

"Just to let you know, I'm my information isn't cheap, okay?" Kairi made sure to slip.

"Just show us." Riku said, slightly exasperated in the back of his head._ Who knew space travel could change a person so much…hmm…_

"Here we go!" Namine muttered to herself as the disc came to life, showing the face of the boy-who-looked-a-lot-like-Sora-if-it-weren't-for-the-hair. A fine price of five million munny was also with the picture.

"This is the hacker I was talking about, Roxas, with a price of five million on his head. I also found a fake identity he set up."

"And how'd you find that?" Riku asked.

"Woman's intuitions, with some help from Namine, of course."

"From what I figured, someone used the fake identity to get that truck that exploded-"

The arcane screen switched to the camera recording on _Oath Keeper_, which showed the damage of the explosion.

"-But the guy on the truck wasn't Roxas. The only thing I can think of is an ally or friend of Roxas'. I'm not really sure, still. Namine, freeze here."

The recording stopped on the blurry image of the man in the coat holding an arm before his face.

The two boys still seemed skeptical, "That's a great tip, Kairi." "How are we supposed to catch him with such a crummy image?"

"Hey! I remember his face perfectly!"

Namine held up a pen of sorts to Kairi before the argument could escalate, "Try this."

"Huh?"

"You can draw on the screen. Try drawing his face."

"Besides, how do you know this guy's the criminal, or that he's even alive? If he just stood around without gas mask at the epicenter, he should be dead by now." Riku also noted.

"He's not dead."

"How do you know that?"

"I just know…done." Kairi backed away from the monitor, revealing… a very poor level of drawing skill.

"Huh? What's that supposed to be?"

Sora couldn't help but chuckle, "That's great! Kairi, if you can actually catch the guy with that picture, I'll pay the three hundred million out of my own pocket!"

"Whatever! I'll just get him myself!"

With that, Kairi huffed, either in search of more clues or a shower.

Riku snorted, "Good girl, but this was still a waste of time."

Sora shrugged, before pacing off with his hands in his pockets, "I'm going to take a look around."

Riku smirked, folding his arms as he watched Sora head out, "And you actually do something on your own instead of sleeping? What's this world coming to?"

"I'll trust Kairi on this. She's got a good intuition…"

"But-"

"Besides… I want to eat something that's not out of a cup."

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A bum told him to go the Moroccan section of Twilight Town. A baked sweet potato for lunch. A kid gave him directions. A nap in the early afternoon. An old lady pointed further. The sun beat down on him even more harshly in the middle-eastern flavored portion of the Town. Hence, he asked about. A few more pointed fingers led him to a trio parking their behinds around a plastic table, playing cards and betting matches.

"Man, back home, there used to be ships all over the place." The girl with short black hair muttered.

"There sure were…" The blonde man with a straw in his mouth mused through chewed teeth.

"I used to be a great warrior… it's how I got my scar…" The man dazedly remembered, his mentioned scar running across his nose.

"What are you talking about?"

"You got that scar when you fell into a table! I was there!"

"Really…?"

A new voice cut into their game. They all looked up to Sora, "You guys got a minute to talk? I have some questions."

They averted their eyes, "We're too deaf to hear anything, so that's impossible."

_Ugh._ "… Do you know of an accessory shop that sells seeds?" Sora continued to try.

"They sells seeds everywhere around here." The girl answered evasively.

"Okay…. a store that _doesn't_ sell seeds around here."

"…Police aren't welcome."

"Do I look like a cop?" Sora deadpanned.

"More like a gangster…" The scarred fellow dazedly sighed out.

"It's the same thing!" The others indignantly replied.

"I'm a bounty hunter okay? That's it."

"Cowboy, huh?" The girl smirked.

"I used to like them…" The scarred guy mused, his mind still in another dimension.

"Then, you guys know why I'm here, right?" Sora asked.

"You're even less welcome now!" With that, the three picked up the table and marched away with their game, leaving Sora in the dust.

The key master could only raise an eyebrow.

A fruitless walk led the boy into late afternoon, seated and slumped over on one of the vehicle barricades that cordoned off the stone steps.

_This heat…_ "I could use a drink…"

He unexpectedly caught a can that was tossed to him. Looking up, he found himself face to face with a smug man, a real resident of Moroccan Street. Robes, dark skin, designer sunglasses… gray hair for a guy who looked only closing in on thirty?

"You're the one looking for the seed shop?" The man asked, with his thick rich voice. The type of voice that had the speaker dog-piled with women at social events, had he been anyone else.

Sora grinned, and shrugged as he turned to his drink, "Do you have one that can't be seen by the naked eye?"

"Of course. You can find anything you want on Moroccan Street." With that the man walked off, leaving a confused Sora. The man turned back, "Isn't that why you're here?"

The man beckoned to follow. Sora did. As they traveled across the plank-roofed alleys, many people seemed to be familiar with the man as they passed by.

"_Ushay'ab, Xemnas!"_

"_Ushay'ab."_

"_Min'kay ashyb, Xemnas!!"_

"_Ut'ay ka-ab."_

"_Ushay'ab, Xemnas!"_

"_Ay-avab."_

This continued on, people greeting him, with 'Xemnas' giving a passing greeting, or pulling aside a man to give a hearty hello. Some sort of celebrity on the street, as far as Sora could figure.

They stopped by a kiosk with several trays and jars of seeds and signs, manned only by an eerie limbless mannequin that displayed his plastic organs.

"Do you want bean starch? Almonds?" Xemnas began as they stood in front of the merchandise. Xemnas pointed to one, "This one's Carbaru seed. It's for getting back at your wife if she's unfaithful. If you want to check if it's a good seed or bad, eat it fast. If it's poisonous, you can throw it back up. If you eat it too slowly, the poison will spread through your body, and you'll die before you can throw it up. Got it?"

"Er… I'm a little too young to get married."

"You're living in bliss then!"

"What I want to know is-"

"Don't touch that. That seed is bad. A friend of mine died from it. You can't make light of the power of seeds…'

Coincidentally, Xemnas had just plucked up another seed from another tray and swallowed it down with a gulp.

"Look, I'm just looking for the virus that was used in the tanker explosion."

That stopped seemed to freeze Xemnas for a minute, before he turned to look the key master in the eye.

"…Do you believe in demons?"

"Huh?"

"In this universe, there are things that exist, and things that don't. But why do people worry about things they don't see?"

Xemnas picked up a handful of seeds and held it to Sora's view, "Why do people love the air, and build ships to fly into space?"

In a single gesture, the seeds all disappeared, "Because… we all used to be able to fly."

"What, this place is a path to the heavens?" Sora attempted to catch on.

"Anything you see in your mind can exist. Even if you can't see it."

"So… there is a virus."

Xemnas seemed to smile at a personal joke, "That's nothing like a mere virus. Follow me."

Deeper into the alleyways they went, past the sleepy lights and the shadows of the buildings. Soon enough, Xemnas was crouching into a little hole at the bottom wall of one of the buildings, and disappeared out of sight. Sora kept his groan inward at the things he did, and followed after.

At the other side, Xemnas pushed the small cabinet doors open, leading the two of them into a shop covered by clocks along the walls, and oddities covering the shelves.

The man at the counter called Xemnas over, "Hey! I found something good!"

Ducking under the counter, the man returned with a large vase that was placed into the Moroccan's hands, who inspected it.

"It suits you perfectly!"

"No, but this pot is perfect for this young man here."

Sora turned around, confused while the earthen pot was pushed into his arms, "Huh?"

"Yeah! It suits you perfectly!"

"How does it fit me!?"

Xemnas only gave another of those smug looks, "People should always take what suits them."

"Hey! I'm not here to shop!"

"You just bought something. Good bye, En Chara." With that Xemnas was pacing out the main entrance of the shop. Sora was frustrated and trying to juggle a pot and follow after the man all at the same time.

"Hey! Wait! HEY!"

As the clocks across the room sounded out the time in perfect unison, Sora continued out into the streets. Sliding to a stop, he found himself lost in a mass of people, with no sight of the gray headed man anywhere.

_The heck?_

Time however, seemed to crawl when his instincts kicked in. _Behind you._

Turning around, a particular walking towards him seemed to stand out from the crowd. A feminine form wrapped up in cloaks and robes, cloth across her mouth. All Sora could see was the green eyes with intensity that pierced through everything. As the two closed in on each other, the bounty hunter kept his ground at the approaching… threat? Mystery? Woman? Clue?

In a moment she passed him by and was gone, leaving Sora by himself in the crowds on Moroccan street.

-

-

-

While in the state of hysteria quietly gripping the city, many people in their vehicles were leaving the capital of Twilight Town towards the quieter cities beyond its borders. Many cars left. Few entered.

One of them held a man in a black trench coat silently driving, while the boy beside him, looking remarkably like Sora with different hair, rattled away his thumbs on the display of his handheld game.

"You know, these older games are actually really good." Roxas mused to his comrade over the tinny music. "These new games these days are getting boring. These old school ones are way better. You know, games back then were enough for everyone. You can say the same about hackers; it was better when there weren't as many. Even little things got you left in the history books, but now with so many; you have to keep doing bigger and bigger things to get noticed."

Roxas nodded to the man, "That's why I'm seriously grateful to you, you know. I always wanted to know… what it's like to be a terrorist."

Ahead of them a security cruiser and an officer was waving them to a stop as the car moved towards the industrial section of the city.

Inside, Roxas continued to play until- "Aww… I died."

The security officer came over to the driver's side, prompting the window to slide down, "Let me see your license. Where are you going? From here on is storage space, and it isn't permitted to-"

A flash of light, and the where the head of the officer was, there was only empty space. Sheathing the flash of light back into recesses of the dark car, the dark figure of the driver drove on, leaving the body in the street.

Roxas looked back, "Aww… he died."

-

-

-

Riku quietly watched the flickering cowboy western, arms folded behind him. Beside him was an old friend; both were catching up with current times.

Riku's "friend" seemed darkly amused at the sight of the black and white sheriff facing down the movie's antagonist, "You know if they could see so easily, sheriff's could take care of anybody…"

"We've wasted enough time, Colt. What was inside the tanker?"

"Nothing."

"Hmph. What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said, nobody seems to heard or seen it before."

While the sheriff shot down the villain in a tense duel, Colt reached into the folds of his jacket and pulled out a smaller arcane display, with a disc already inserted. He showed it to Riku. An image of a totaled Gummi ship amongst asteroids showed up.

"This is?" Riku asked.

"We found this space truck in the asteroid fields. The driver had died instantly. He was a convicted felon, anyways."

"A runaway?"

"We did some digging around. The truck belongs to a medical company called HOL-BAST Incorporated, but they didn't even bother filing a theft report until this happened. There was a rumor they did something big inside that truck, so nobody could find out. Then the tanker explosion happened soon afterwards."

"That's suspicious."

"Even for an expensive medical research company, their security is pretty insane."

"Why don't you just barge in, then? You can use any reason."

"Things changed since you left, Riku. The police around here are just full of corrupt fat men looking to fill their pockets. The higher ranks want more power, and the low lives just get in with the gangs. If we start a commotion, it won't be pretty. Tch…"

Riku remained stony faced as he drank his coffee, as he watched sheriff ride into the sunset. "Things haven't changed at all… That's why I left."

-

-

-

At the warehouse in the industrial section, a suitcase was set on a table in a chamber full of Halloween constructions. Black gloved hands pulled the latches open, revealing a series of glass beads insulated by Styrofoam. The terrorist in the black trench coat picked one up, letting a man look on in a mixture of awe and horror. This particular was a curious mixture of looks. Dressed in white-collar clothes, yet at the same time his hair was filled with untamable crimson locks and small tattoos under each eye.

"Do you know of Purgatory?" The man in black asked, a voice smooth and steely cold.

The white-collar looked in surprise, "Huh?"

"A place between Heaven and Hell. A world where people are left behind, and cannot ascend to Heaven… yes… it is this world."

"…This is all?" The other asked, anxious to move to less morbid conversation, and looked at the beads.

"Each capsule holds thirty thousand of them, and if you open one, it begins a self-replication process." The terrorist answered, toying and tossing the bead, despite the cautioning of the other.

"Hey-! Be careful with that! What about my money?"

He reached into the pocket inside his coat and dumped a bag into the white-collar's palms. A quick count got his confusion.

"This amount… this is below what we agreed!"

"You'll get the other half of it after the Party. After that, you can do what you please." The terrorist simply put it as he left the case full of beads into the care of the other.

"Yeah… and I'll be saying good bye to this cheap life… just one question." The white collar asked the terrorist's back. "Why on Halloween?"

"…In the old days, Halloween was a day when people prayed for souls to go to Heaven."

The terrorist turned around, silver bangs spilling across his face, green eyes smiling in grim humor as he sneered.

"You should start praying."

-

-

-

Back on _Kingdom Hearts_, Kairi just threw down the remote on the news. "Nothing, as usual."

Near her, Namine was seated on the table that just as often sat on as any other chair, doing magic on her laptop, while Pluto lay on the ground nearby.

"Kairi?" The resident blonde beckoned, "Can you take a look?"

Kairi found herself looking at the frozen blurry image of the man in coat holding his arm again, "Yeah?"

Namine didn't answer, instead typing more commands that found the section of the image being cleaned and zoomed repeatedly, until a close up of the man's gloved wrist was all that was seen.

"Is that an emblem on the glove?"

"Yeah. I've looked around for marks similar to it, and I came up with about… fourteen matches, which one do you think it is?"

As Kairi looked over the images of the various similar symbols she pointed at one. "It's this one?"

"You think so?"

"Yeah, it's definitely this one."

Namine typed in a few more queries, and the brief of the emblem and its organization was revealed.

"Shin-Ra Special Forces… SOLDIER… He's a military man?"

"SOLDIER was disbanded about three years ago, Kairi."

"You have any other data on this group?"

"Just a dossier, check out the soldiers."

Kairi snorted at the list, "Nearly all of them are dead! Go to the next one."

"Hmm…"

Pluto whined, catching the attention of Namine, "What is it?"

With that, the dog barked at one of the images.

"Really…"

"What is it? Hurry up!"

"But Pluto says it's this guy."

"What would the dog know? Look, he died in the Wutai War. Agh… nevermind. Let's just call it a night."

"Fine… huh?"

"Finding information this way is so boring… why did that idiot have to blow up my old home…?"

"Kairi…"

"… It would have been pretty cool being a princess, not having to do anything hard for a whole decade…"

"Kairi."

"…Why did I let Sora talk me into this… I'm going to lose all my hair and beauty before I'm twenty…"

"Kairi!"

"…When did this all go wrong…?"

"Roxas is spending money at an arcade!"

"…I forgot about him!"

As Kairi rushed out of the living quarters, she spied Sora walking back with a pot in his arms.

"Hi, what's that? Pottery?"

"Yeah, something like that."

The two passed by with that fake conversation. Sora walked into the now Kairi-less quarters, seeing only Namine mumbling to herself in thought as she watched the monitor of her laptop.

"Oh? Came back with a present for me, Sora?"

"Not really… who's that?" Sora nodded to the screen. Namine picked up the laptop to show the man.

"Pluto thinks this guy's the guy, but Kairi doesn't think so, all she knows is that it's one of these guys."

"Hmm… Sephiroth…?"

"Sora, you find anything?" Riku called out as he returned as well. He caught the pot that was tossed to him.

"Apparently, this jar suited me. How about you?"

"…The western was pretty good."

In other words, there wasn't much of a lead. That was until Namine shouted out she wanted to see the pot and found herself squeezing her lithe body inside, much to the deadpanned shock of everyone else present.

"She'd be perfect in a circus, seriously, Riku."

"This is what you should expect if you pick up kids who spent their early childhood inside a castle that didn't even have _windows. _Either way, I asked a friend in the force, but I only found out there's some weird chemical place."

"Guys! I found something!"

"Huh?"

"It was at the bottom of the pot." Namine continued, as she pulled out a glass bead up to everyone's view.

-

-

-

Roxas had finally made it to level eight, a real accomplishment on his part, given the difficulty of the shooter game he was always on. Keeping calm, the boy continued to blast away at the screen, catching alien monsters across the landscape.

Suddenly a girl with red hair leaned up against the railings of the booth and hummed appreciatively, "You're pretty good. Oh, here they come."

Roxas blasted, and was in a good mood, "Hey girl, you're all by yourself? If you want, you can join in and play two-player."

"Sure, but prefer the real thing."

"Real…what?" Roxas looked beside him to see a Keyblade just before it release a fire spell, shorting out the game and roasting the screen for an instant before the magic flames burned out on their own. His jaw dropped.

Kairi smirked, "We meet at last, hacker boy."

"I was only five hundred points away from fighting Spooky Donkey…"

"Hey, are you listening?"

"You almost never get to see him…" With that, Roxas hurled his plastic gun to the ground, before turning around with a glare, "What are you going to do about it, bounty hunter girl?"

"You're not really paying attention to the situation, are you? The game's over."

Roxas only grinned, "I can definitely take revenge for Spooky Donkey…" With that, he reached for his belt, which was laden with electronics, and started typing away at the buttons, to Kairi's confusion.

The effects were soon known, as right after, all the lights and electronics in the arcade shorted out, leaving Kairi in the darkness.

"What the-"

She only managed to see Roxas rushing away towards the inactive escalators.

"Hey! Get back here!"

As Kairi got to the bottom of the metal stairs, she fired two more Fire spells, hoping to scare Roxas into freezing. Unfortunately, in the dim light, all she scored was burning through the metal supports that held one of the helium balloons that rested above the stairs, causing it to fall down the escalator as the bounty huntress was just running, much to her shock, as she was chased back down the escalator.

Outside, Roxas was heaving, until he tripped outside the entrance of the arcade, ripping a cloth bracelet off his wrist against the pavement. Wasting no time, he was already off and running. By the time Kairi had caught up to where he was last, all she could find was the checkered piece of cloth on the ground.

She kicked a stand in frustration.

-

-

-

The scanner was certainly out of date, but at least it was compatible with Namine's computer. Inside the windowed tube, the glass bead was within.

"Weird shapes…" Namine muttered to herself.

"So what's inside?" Riku asked over the top of Namine's head, who remained wholly concentrated on the screen.

"Lymphocytes. It's full of it."

"Lymphocytes? Isn't that something in your blood?"

"But like I say, this one looks different than the usual ones."

"How so? I'm not very good at this sort of stuff."

Namine pulled up a second screen next to the real-time image of the lymphocyte that was inside the bead.

"This one's a real one, this one's the one inside."

"How's it different?"

"Zooming in…"

The close up of the cell wall didn't show too much either. Sure, the "different" one looked more organized, but that was about it.

"I still don't get it."

"Then let's microwave it."

"Eh?"

Before Riku could make any more arguments about possibly destroying the only clue they had, the inside of the tube was immediately bathed in red, signifying the heating process had begun. Nothing left to do, Riku just watched.

In moments, the image of the real lymphocyte showed the cell shriveling up under the heat, but the "different" one seemed to be resisting the heat. That struck Riku as odd, even with his basic knowledge of cells. In fact, the sides of the cell seemed to turning fuzzy…

"Hmmm?"

In moments, the lymphocyte simply dispersed into a cloud and disintegrated, causing the boy to blink in surprise, "What the… What the heck's in this thing?"

-

-

-

In a room, a black-gloved fist moved one bead over the other, and removed the jumped orb with mechanical smoothness, leaving only four left.

-

-

-

It was another day again, and Sora was found on an apartment opposite of HOL-BAST Inc.'s company and research office, spying out the building with a pair of binoculars. Noticing some large public vehicle entering the building without much trouble, the boy focused his attention on the side of the truck

-Strife Cleaning Co. 272-2437-8120-

"Hello? Strife Cleaning Company? I'm just doing a survey for my school, and I was wondering where you keep your vehicles…"

-

-

-

Inside the office of the director of HOL-BAST, a woman stood in front of the aged man. Even with the bright pink blouse, and braided tail of brown hair that ended in a red ribbon, her intense green eyes made sure to show she was far from cute, even if she liked certain colors. Behind her was a lower ranking scientist.

"Please continue with your report." The director commanded. The scientist thus continued to do the talking for her.

"The police force is investigating the incident as a terrorist attack. They still have no idea who's behind it, though. The investigating the cause of the outbreak from the angle that it is a virus."

The director hummed, "They won't find anything out for a while, then. However, we must keep cautious."

The woman spoke next, "At Moroccan Street, some information was given about the incident. We encountered the spy, but before we could act, Ansem had already gone into hiding."

"We must deal with every issue for this situation. This time it's big enough to affect the entire world."

"But do you really think Sephiroth really used… That?" The scientist asked, hiding his apprehension behind formality.

"That… is a heartless monster that cannot be seen. It is something that should never have existed… and is forbidden from existing. Sephiroth and Ansem… you know what to do."

The woman eyes flashed with despondency for just a second, looked back up firmly, "Yes, sir."

-

-

-

Outside a Strife Cleaning company garage, one of the drivers emerged from the bathroom and looked on in shock.

"What the-! Hey! Did you see where my truck went?"

"Eh? Did you just leave?"

Somewhere else, a Strife truck was just being checked through, its driver suspiciously young, a cap precariously placed atop his spiky brown hair as he whistled his way through to the parking lot.

-

-

-

The woman in the pink blouse slotted her access card through the reader, letting her back out the heavy security section and into the plainer "civil" laboratories.

Down the hall, a certain key master in cleaning uniform and a broom looked up the directions.

_Should I go to section six for archives, or section seven for research and development? Huh?_

At the sounds of footsteps he quickly brought his broom up in what he thought was an accurate display of cleaning the wall. The woman that passed him by only gave him a strange look before walking on. As the footsteps faded away, Sora gave a sigh of relief.

An arcane staff lodged itself beside his temple.

"Put your hands in the air." She commanded promptly.

Sora dropped the broom, and did as he was told, though he put a grin on top of that. "Haven't I seen you before?"

She didn't respond to that.

"You look kinda good."

"That doesn't speak for yourself." The woman bluntly put it.

"Ah, that wounds me…"

"Turn around, back to me."

Again Sora did as he was told, but he also made sure to stomp down on the brush of the broom. The wooden shaft flew up with enough force to knock the woman's staff out of the way as the key master ducked down. In another deft movement, Sora's palm crashed into the underside of the woman's wrist, knocking her staff loose, which was promptly slid away by the same broom.

As Sora rose he only managed to duck a kick that swept away his hat instead. Even with his the broom being held between the pits of his elbow and his back, Sora was easily dodging the oncoming fists of his female adversary, twisting his body this way and that.

As one fist passed his eyes, he noticed a peculiar tattoo one the top of her right wrist-

Sora had to dodge another fist that headed for his head before swerving behind the woman. With his key chain trapped between his clothes and his uniform, he had to make do with only the broom. But that was already, he already had smacked the wooden handle into her back, making her stumble forward before she twisted around in another roundhouse kick. He ducked under that and brought his broom swinging back into her mid section, which she blocked, though she was pushed against the wall with the broom.

The woman frowned. "How much do you know already?"

Sora shrugged while bringing out a coin in one of his hands, "Who knows? How 'bout this, if I get heads, I'll talk-"

The woman already was shoving the broom away, fists punching while Sora kept a corner of his mouth grinning, as he kept blocking blows with his makeshift weapon. Eventually he changed momentum, bringing his broom forward in a series of jabs and swipes, which the other easily ducked away from as well.

As they backed away, Sora seemed amused at the predicament, "You know, for a doctor in a medical place, you sure know how to fight."

"Knowing too much is a good way to die."

"You sure have a way with words. I think I'm falling in love!" Sora laughed, before twisting out of the way of a heel that was launched towards his face. Jerking away from a few more blows, Sora twisted his waist to swing his rod into the woman's side again. This time, she actually caught it, and wasn't letting go. After launching another kick which was blocked, she brought a palm crashing through the wood, splitting the broom in half, before backing away, as Sora brought the remaining half into his hands, posing rather ridiculously while holding the bristled weapon. His face dropped.

The woman averted her eyes just for a second to look at the approaching two security guards that was heard the commotion, before she found a broom blocking her vision. Backing away, she crouched under the obstruction, only to see the teen abandon his weapon and run away from the other two guards. As she dashed after the entire party, she also quickly grabbed her staff from the ground.

Sora meanwhile, turning a corner, quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher from the ground, and as the two guards came about, they were quickly overcome with a spray of foam that left them blind and choking. At the sight of the crazy pink lady that was rushing past the immobilized security, Sora was already running off frantically.

Quickly finding his way to an elevated walkway above the main lobby with the woman quickly chasing behind, Sora took his chances and leapt off the high platform, and managed to roll across the floor safely, before dashing to the exit. Within moments, the woman had also fallen heavily to the ground in a crouch. When she rushed outside she found the escapee waving cheerily from the back of a leaving Strife Cleaning truck. She brought a radio to her mouth and spoke rapidly.

The main gates shut right in front of the truck Sora was on, leaving it screeching to a halt while guards with magic guns started pouring out the sides of the buildings.

Sora tossed his head around, looking at the approaching army, gritting his teeth.

_That way! No- wait- That… no. Geez!_

Sora scrambled to the top of the truck while flares of energy scattered around him, smashing the metal hull of the truck and heating up the air around his head. Dashing across the length of the truck, Sora leapt across the gates and into the streets and kept running.

In the back, watching the chaos of guards and escaping spies, the woman sighed and walked very stiffly back into the building.

-

-

-

Roxas paced down the streets looking at his watch.

_Any minute now…three, two, one… boom._

At the exact same time, arcane screens across the entire Twilight Town, no matter what was being shown, suddenly burned away to another message. An image of a cartoony flying bandaged pumpkin, with teeth and eyes, and fluttering around with a single black wing took up the entirety of the screen, while a man's recorded message and text cycled through to the viewers in various languages.

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN! TRICK OR TREAT!**

**I'M SO TINY THAT NO ONE CAN FIND,**

**SO GREAT THAT NO ONE CAN SEE,**

**BUT YOU ARE ALL MADE OF ME**

**TO THE MARROW.**

Sora and Riku looked at the cryptic message together from their screen, but Kairi didn't bother paying attention, more concerned about finding something she had misplaced.

"So, what that supposed to mean, Riku?" Sora asked from his seat. Riku hummed with crossed arms.

"I'm not sure exactly, but if you look at it from a biological angle, there a few interpretations."

Kairi cut in, "Hey guys… did any of you see a dumb-looking checkered bracelet anywhere?"

"Kairi, this is more important, this is a message from the bounty." Riku scolded lightly.

"Maybe it's a trick…"

"I would have thought so too, if it weren't for what I saw in the pot."

"Pot?"

Riku jerked his head back to the vase in the corner of the room, which now held a sunflower for decorative purposes. After that, he pulled up an image of the lymphocyte over the frozen image of the pumpkin. "At a normal glance, it looks like another lymphocyte…"

The image was zoomed several times, while showing a freeze frame of the lymphocyte as it broke up into the mist from before, "…But in reality, it's actually made up of thousands of tiny machines. These are what the scientists would call 'nano-machines'."

"Nano-machines?" Sora pondered.

"Really…" Kairi also mused.

"You know about this?"

"Not a thing."

Riku continued, "Either way, it's a machine so small that it can't be seen by normal human vision. On top of that, they're also made of proteins… your 'favorite proteins', Sora."

"Hey, don't look at me like that."

"Still, they can't be ingested, and they're normally only used for medical purposes."

"How did something like that end up in a pot?" Kairi asked.

Riku decided to brush off that question, and kept up in his crash-lecture, "Anyways, lymphocytes aren't supposed to be made of proteins in the first place."

"And?"

"Whoever wrote that message knows exactly what this thing is."

"And?"

"…That's it."

"In other words, you have no idea what that thing still is." Kairi sighed, as she arched her back in a stretch before walking off in a dismissive, "This was a waste of time…"

"By the way, Sora. How was that medical place?"

The key blade user gave a quick laugh and a smile, "A great place. They make some powerful looking medicine there, and all the guards there had Golden Snipers."

Riku spun around in surprise, "Magic guns? Those can only be gotten from the military!"

"I also met a girl there, she had a tattoo that was the same as the one on Sephiroth's glove." Sora also noted, while he plucked his headphones from the table and set it to a frequency. "That girl…"

"What about her?"

"She was kinda cute. It's too bad she's so old, though."

Riku snorted, "Anyways, if whatever is going on is related to the military, then the story changes a lot. Geez, solving one mystery only dropped us into something a hundred times more complex… Sora, what are you doing?"

The boy in question kicked up his legs onto one end of the sofa and leaned back on the other arm, "With some problems, it's just better to sleep over it."

"But…"

"Riku, seriously. Some things do just have to cook by themselves."

Kairi suddenly shot back into the room, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I was here to find some stupid looking bracelet, did either of you find one?"

"No."

"Geez… where did it go?"

-

-

-

Pluto brought his nose up and sniffed the checkered cloth show to him by a slim arm. He sneezed.

Namine looked on in surprise, "I guess it does smell funny… either way, Pluto, find!"

Pluto traced the scent across the city, and to about two dead ends, one that held a paranoia-maniac ("Get out of my porch or I'll blast ya!"), and the other… well…

("I don't like cute girls! Get out of here!")

Never mind, strange neighborhood.

Pluto suddenly barked at the form of a boy that was pacing away suspiciously, hands in his pockets, and looking around nervously.

Behind a metal garbage container, Namine looked on as Roxas gave a quick look around before jogging into a particular abandoned apartment complex.

"Found him!"

-

-

-

"Hmmm? Yes, yeah?"

"_Kairi! I found him!"_

"Eh? Namine, what are you doing?"

"_That Roxas guy! I found him!"_

"Really! Where?"

"_I'm sending you the address now!"_

"Uh-yeah! Just stay where you are, okay? I'm coming right over!"

"_Got it."_

Unfortunately, Namine's short attention span to anything not related to computers or art, combined with a small children's early Halloween parade, proved too much for the girl.

In an instant, she was running after them.

-

-

-

Roxas approached the dark figure, which continued to play his game by himself. "Level one, clear. Easy as cake… " He spied the three orbs still in play, "You're still playing that game? Is it fun? How's it work?"

-

-

-

Kairi scrunched her fists at the empty spot that should have held someone very important. "I should have known this was going to happen… those idiots! Which building? Which room?" She whined into the air.

-

-

-

"In solitaire, every ball you jump is taken away." The dark figure explained, as he moved one orb over the other, "Then, if you are left with only one, you win."

"Oh, it's over. Does that mean you win?"

Roxas looked on in confusion as the edge of the man's overly long blade was rested precariously atop the remaining glass bead.

"The game's climax is about to begin." The man muttered.

Roxas nervously laughed off the comment, shrugging with his hands in his pockets, "Eh… Really, what are you talking about?"

A realization it him, "Wait! You mean that ball-"

"It's only a game."

A simple rise and drop of the blade split the glass ball in perfect halves, leaving the liquid to dribble across the wooden surface of the gaming board.

Silence.

"Y-you're joking right? This is a joke right-"

Roxas suddenly broke into coughing fits, like something was forcibly entering his lungs. The other man silently made his sword disappearing into the dark folds of his trench coat, unaffected by the events.

"There can only be one left." He stated simply.

Roxas looked on in horror, before he rushed to one of the closed windows, trying to budge the rusted shutters while the other man simply walked away, leaving the hacker to his death, coughing and gagging.

-

-

-

Kairi turned around to one of the buildings when she heard the sounds of a window shattering. She narrowed her eyes. In moments she was rushing up the grimy stairwells of the building, her Keyblade in hand. Cautiously moving along the corridor, she met the door to the room that held the shattered window. A kick brought the aged wood slamming out of her way while she barged in, her weapon in the air at ready.

She was met with a Roxas stumbling towards her, bleeding from the forehead, eyes rolling to and fro, while his voice came out strangled.

"I can't meet… Spooky… Donkey…"

Roxas fell to the ground on his face. Kairi was beside him immediately, "Hey! It's not good for me if you die! Get up!"

"Please… restart…"

Kairi rose, confused, before her breath was suddenly strangled with a flame in her lungs, leaving her coughing. As she opened her eyes again, she looked on in confusion as the room around her suddenly started going blurry around the lines, like a world out of focus.

A light fluttered past her, and her vision followed lethargically, her head growing heavy.

As Kairi thought she was going to pass out, she heard someone step behind her. Moving instinctively, she swung behind her. The magic blade ripped into the gloved hand, but was stopped by the grip that even managed to wrench the weapon out of her grip.

Dropping the weapon, the dark man rose with a bloody palm, slightly intrigued, before lapping the red fluid into his mouth, letting it dribble with his smirk.

Kairi backed away, coughing and hacking, while she stumbled drunkenly to the far side of the room, which held a table with a board on it. Losing her balance next, Kairi fell forward onto the table, the force upsetting the beads on the board, leaving them to scatter across the ground. As she turned around, a bloody hand gripped her jaw, forcing her around, before both arms pinned her down.

Powerless, lacking strength, Kairi was helpless as the man clamped his bloody mouth over hers, letting her gag at the taste of the coppery sliding down her throat, before everything went black.

-

-

-

A voice piqued into Sora's headset, waking him.

_Emergency call from Alpha One. We have located One Wing. Location is 24.15. He's moving_.

Across the city, undercover agents tracked the quiet movements of the black clothed man, coat fluttering slightly. Back at HOL-BAST, the woman was rushing to her car, radio in hand, "I'm coming right over. Don't do anything until I get there."

Sora, who was quickly leaving _Kingdom Hearts_, gave a grin, "But I'll be done before you get there."

_He's entered between One Seven and One Eight._

Sora jumped into a smaller tram a tracking screen in hand, while the woman sped out of her headquarters.

_He's headed towards the Train Station._

As the woman reached into the pocket of her shirt to put away something, her hand brushed along something she didn't expect and pulled out a chip. She only gave a half a second of thought before she snapped it in two.

Sora frowned as the display on his hand-held display fizzled away into static. But no matter, he already knew the man was heading for the Train Station, which was enough.

The woman's car slid to a halt near an entrance to the station, next to one of her agents, who pointed, "This way! I'll go with you!"

"I'll handle this myself!" She only said, brushing off the assistance as she rushed into the station.

"But-!"

"Look after my car!"

Behind them, a tram came to a halt, Sora jumping out and shoving his headset into the first person's hand he came by as he also ran into the building.

Inside, she caught the sight of her target silently standing before one of the larger trains that moved people between cities across the giant harbors, and chased after. While the woman only barely managed to slip between the doors of one of the cars as it shut, Sora was not so lucky, being the last behind them all. Another plan formed his in head, though, and he rushed back up the descending escalator, and back onto bridge that spanned the railway tracks. As the train began to pull out, he leapt off the side of the bridge, and landed in a messy roll onto the roof, before moving forwards.

Inside, the woman breathed deeply and made sure to keep a grasp on her weapon of choice, her staff, and discreetly moved down the connected cars towards her quarry's location, making sure nobody would notice. Sora on the other hand, cause quite a commotion further up, as he dropped in front of one of the large windows of the passenger cars and motioned for people to back away with his hand that held the Keyblade. Seeing up ahead that a train was rushing towards him from the tracks parallel to his current ride, he quickly pointed his magical weapon to the glass.

"Freeze!"

In moments, the pane frosted up, and Sora kicked through the weakened glass with no effort, just as the other train rushed past.

Between the shadows and traces of light that moved across the windows, a Keyblade was pointed in the air at a man's back that stood in the middle of the aisle of one of the train cars.

"Sephiroth!"

The man raised his head slightly at the name.

"I don't know your face, but I can tell it's you. You reek of blood."

Sephiroth spoke back, never turning. "You are a… bounty hunter?"

Sora sneered, his business face in these sorts of situations, "Don't think badly of me, okay? But really, it's your fault for putting a three hundred million bounty on your own head like that."

Just then the train passed through a small support tunnel that helped hold the bridge that the train was using to cross the harbor. In the sudden glare as the car left the darkness, Sephiroth spun around, hand glowing with magic.

The woman heard the sounds of magic, and rushed forwards.

As Sora ducked behind the backed-benches, the orbs of energy crashed into the wood around him, shattering glass and prying steel supports free from the wood it was supposed to brace. Sephiroth attacked several more times, before backing away into the next car. Sora chased him, but again, only barely managed to escape the hail of energy that blasted the side of car as the boy jumped behind the benches again.

Again, Sephiroth quickly marched away from the battle, with Sora chasing after. The woman, on the other hand, had no such easy pursuit, as the civilian onlookers tried to escape in the opposite direction, slamming into her body as she tried to move beyond the human river.

Finally, Sephiroth ran out of cars to run into, as he came to the stop in the one just behind the train engine. Spinning around, he faced down Sora with an energy filled palm, while the other had just brought up his blade.

Trains passed. Shadows. Silence as the two looked at each other.

"Why won't you attack?" Sephiroth suddenly asked.

"Hmm?"

"What's the matter? You only talk in the beginning?" Sephiroth gave a grim smile, "Do it."

Sora just came back with his usual cockiness, "Well, that's too bad. Killing you would mean I lose the bounty."

"I do not fear death. You only quietly watch a dream… a dream that lasts forever…"

Sora harrumphed, "What a weirdo."

Sephiroth's glazed green eyes however, turned back down, and noticed someone coming from behind the bounty hunter. Turning his glowing palm just the slightest, the next blast of energy shot past Sora's confused look, before he heard the sound of a woman's shocked scream cut short, and a body falling to the ground.

"Fire!" Sora fired furiously, letting the entrapped flames rip into the scenery around Sephiroth, while the black clothes flew with his movement as he ducked away. As he kept firing, Sora realized that he couldn't bring his blade up against the man, lest he kill him. Thus, just as the magic fuelling his attacks ran low, Sora jumped from one top of a bench to the next, before he flew foot first into Sephiroth's face, knocking him back. From there he unleashed fist after fist, only stopping to knock away a glowing hand that was aiming for head, before pushing the man against the side of one of the seats so that he could pummel him repeatedly. Another punch knocked Sephiroth down the path between the seats, and a high kick to the face launched the man across the chamber, impacting his head against one of the seats, before he slumped to the ground. Sora walked over to the fallen body, and picked the man up by the edges of his coat-

Something suddenly rushed into the shocked boy's chest, and out the other end. Sora could only look on, wide-eyed, as Sephiroth's limp body was procured a long sword from _somewhere_, and had driven the entire length through his chest. Something started to seep into the clothes around the wound. Heavily.

Sora's face darkened in rage.

"Is that all?" Sephiroth mused, and twisted the blade, leaving Sora gasping for air. A foot also shot up into the key master's chest, shoving the boy across the steel length of the blade and off the end, smearing him across the floor while he grabbed for his chest in search of air.

Sephiroth, blade bleeding in his left hand, walked nonchalantly towards his fallen foe and reached down. Grasping the boy's neck with his other hand, he dragged the gagging bounty hunter towards one of the windows, before hurling his upper body through the glass, scattering shards everywhere.

In the harsh winds that threatened to drag him out of the train and into the sea, Sora feebly tried to reach for something, and with no strength, failed.

"What is your name?" Sephiroth asked amidst the harsh breezes.

He looked up with one last grin, "…Sora…"

"I'll meet you at the end of the world."

"Sephiroth!" Another voice cried out. Sephiroth and Sora both turned to see the same woman the terrorist had shot, standing as ever, arms grasping her staff, though one of them was heavily bleeding, despite the emergency tourniquet.

Sephiroth merely allowed the hand holding Sora over the water to start glowing. The woman tensed up. Sephiroth let a corner of his mouth curl up.

The orb of energy exploded though Sora's chest point black, scattering blood while he dropped out the window towards the waters below the train, to the woman's horror.

A sound of whispered spells brought her back to reality, as she pointed her staff back at the terrorist, whose arm was glowing, bands of rune spinning about the limb as he raised it into the air.

She hesitated, "Sephiroth… I…"

It was all the time he needed. In moments, the front of passenger car exploded in a blaze of flames, activating emergency brakes and forcing the train to a sparking halt on the bridge riding over the harbor.

Amidst the smoke, she crawled wearily into the next car, before the sound of a dropping body alerted her. In front of her, remaining passengers broke into coughing fits, while they collapsed to the ground. She only watched in total confusion for a few seconds before gripping her own mouth in a desperate attempt for self-preservation.

She didn't cough.

Removing her hand, she sat up and looked at her self. Nothing happened. Not a cough, not an irregular twitch of muscle, not a blurry line anywhere in her vision.

"What on earth…?"

Turning back, she looked at the burning remains of the car. Not a sign remained of his being there. He had somehow, disappeared without a trace.

"Sephiroth…"

-

-

-

**PART ONE: END**

-

-

-

**KINGDOM HEARTS: KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR**


	2. Part 2

**KINGDOM HEARTS: KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR**

**-**

**-**

**-**

**PART TWO: START**

**-**

**-**

**-**

Sora dreamed.

_Do it._

_An explosion ripping through the train car._

_What would have happened if that hostage did get injured?_

_-Kept his ground at the approaching… threat? Mystery? Woman? Clue?_

_Because… we all used to be able to fly._

…_But in reality, it's actually made up of thousands of tiny machines._

_So there's a big fuss about it… hmm… virus… weapon… hmm…huh?_

_As one fist passed his eyes, he noticed a peculiar tattoo one the top of her right wrist-_

**"You know what, Sora? That was a close call. He died… no, he was already dead. Just like you."**

The world blurred and rippled

-

-

-

Sora's eye grimaced just the slightest, before he picked up the heat of warmth and the sound of cracking wood. He woke up looking at the night sky, lying on his back on stone flooring. He couldn't feel his shirt. Instead was a lot of dull pain in his abdomen and what felt like very tight bandaging. Covering his partly naked chest and soggy pants was a large blanket. Turning his head with much soreness and slowness, he looked towards the fire burning in its stone pit, while an aged man sat across it. Sora knew him, as his voice croaked with weariness.

"…Yensid?"

The oracle of sorts poked at the flames, producing smoke that moved out the hole in the top of the Tower, that existed in a place _Kingdom Hearts _always knew to find, but never could point out.

"The man who sank his body in the river, I found you."

"Thanks…"

"What did you see? Your eyes are still half closed."

"I was… remembering a dream. Funny, I never remembered what a dream was, and it was the first time I really felt afraid. Something was off, I was dead."

"Today wasn't a good day for you to try dying. A swimming bird, those blue dreams see through all, the past, the future… the present. Everything always flows, and everything is always connected. Your eyes weren't looking at reality: it was feeling for truth. See with truth, and fear nothing."

Sora used the last of his energy to painfully chuckle, "Yeah, I know…"

-

-

-

When Sora woke again, he found himself seated by the harbor side, wrapped in blankets, and watching the Twilight of the town slowly begin to grow with increasing redness.

"Looks like you're still alive." Riku noted with solemn seriousness. As the two stood and sat to watch the light play along the towers of the city, Riku asked, "What about him?"

"Sephiroth, he disappeared-"

"-As though he were never there."

There was a silence before Riku spoke again, "We've put ourselves in great danger, Sora."

"I know."

"When I still had a father, he used to say, 'A ship that goes to sea either goes on sailing or sinks.' We're only bounty hunters. We're way in over our head this time. There's still time to get out of this. Our involvement with this bounty is over okay, Sora? Sora?"

The other boy was hunched over and snoring. Riku could only give a half-hearted groan.

"You sure sleep a lot…"

-

-

-

The director stared down the silent woman. "Why did you act alone?"

She kept a straight face.

"Don't you want to answer? Because of your selfish actions, doesn't it feel like the failure of this incident is your responsibility?"

"I'm sorry, sir." Was her crisp autonomous answer.

"I'll be asking you to do nothing for the meanwhile. We'll give you information on a need-to-know basis at a later period. You are dismissed."

The director watched as she saluted and marched off stiffly, before the scientist revealed himself from behind a hidden panel in the room. "Watch her."

"Yes, sir."

-

-

-

Donald and Goofy sat at one end of the dark conference, at the other end, Twilight Town's chief of the local security.

"Anyways, from the victim's body, the train and the tanker accident, we assume it's the same substance being used." Donald squawked for the two of them.

"What does the analysis of the substance tell us?"

"…It's, er, being researched as we speak!"

"Uhm, the virus don't act like anything we saw before. A hacker named Roxas made it…" Goofy also noted. "We're checking his hacking routes and, er, his other stuff."

"And isn't there a possibility that he's already dead?" The chief honestly asked.

"Yes. There is." Donald answered. "There's a possibility that this has to do with a terrorist group…"

"What are their motives? Random killing? Or is it for money?"

"That's… being looked into."

The chief muttered to himself, "So, basically, everything is under research or investigation? How long are you going to keep us waiting? The physical exam results will be ready in nearly twelve hours."

Donald and Goofy gulped, but said nothing.

-

-

-

Back on _Kingdom Hearts_, Riku dragged his injured friend, an arm over his shoulder, when the key master spoke.

"Hey, Riku. Is it my imagination or…"

"What?"

"Does my leg feel heavy?"

Riku looked down, and gave a stern-ish look to the Pluto that had attached himself to Sora's limb in question. Namine poked her head out from around the corner, "He's back!"

The three of them, and dog, found themselves around Namine's laptop once more, herself busy diving into the world of electronic information. Like Roxas, she had intuitive knack for hacking, unable to explain the skill other than another form of artwork. To get what you wanted in the end product, though, you stripped away the negative to make the image, rather than paint it yourself. It was all art, in the end though.

Traversing along her sketch board of information, she finally made it to the files of HOL-BAST Inc.

"Guys, I found it. HOL-BAST."

"Namine, look for a truck delivery on October thirteenth."

"'kay!"

Riku turned to Sora, who was directing the hacker. "Sora, just to let you know-"

"I know. It's just research. I can't sleep because I'm curious about this though."

"You sleep too much anyways."

Namine piped up again, "October thirteenth… cargo of trucks… Macadamia nuts, five hundred and twelve pounds."

"Macadamia nuts?" Riku repeated, confused. Sora got the word play, though.

"Most likely an incredible 'seed'."

"Searching…" Namine hummed as she keyed the word through her search engine that tore through the inner workings of HOL-BAST in search of similar phrases.

Sora read them off one by one, "Macadamia Nuts Surveillance Group, Macadamia Nuts Research and Development…"

"That's a lot of power for just a 'seed'." Riku moaned, thinking of the implications.

"Namine, go to Macadamia Nuts Research and Development."

"Right…"

A screen brought up an "Unauthorized" message, and the name of the chief developer, Ansem.

"Can you figure out what they were working on?"

"Neh? They wiped out my hacking program!"

"What, when you got so far already?" Riku exclaimed.

"Namine, try another route for find out about this Ansem guy."

A dossier of names was brought up, bringing Ansem's file to light.

"Doctor Ansem, former Professor and first to research into Nano-technology."

Riku snorted, "I should have known that wasn't a normal medical company. They've producing nano-machine weapons in secret."

"And now Sephiroth, who's dead, is now using it." Sora concluded.

"In the military, Nano-weapons have been forbidden. If he's going to be messing around with it, that means the military isn't going to be sitting around."

"He's still alive."

-

-

-

When Kairi awoke, she was lying on her belly, staring at the moldy wood floor and glass beads scattered about the ground. It was a no-brainer that where she was, her hands and legs were also bound in something. Probably heavy-duty tape.

The sounds of scraping glass alerted her to turn her head. Sitting on the couch, coat splayed over everything like an amorphous shadow, was Sephiroth, his gloved hand playing with the marbles in his hands.

He looked down on her, face motionless.

-

-

-

She ran down the hall towards a familiar blonde head, swamped in lab-coat, as he was about to enter the labs.

"Cloud!"

"Oh, hey Aerith. Need something?"

She looked about suspiciously before reaching into the pocket of her shirt to pull out a glass sample.

"What's this? Someone's blood?"

"I want you to research it. Quietly."

A shark smelt a catch, "So, you'll go out on a date with me?"

"What-I mean… fine…"

"Great! Reserve your Halloween dinner!

She sighed.

-

-

-

Sora sighed. Moroccan Street had swallowed up Xemnas whole. Hide nor Hair of his existence ever appeared. He didn't show at the seed kiosks, and the man at the oddities shop played dumb at his existence. Anyone else who even remotely met Xemnas the last time Sora came didn't even show up on the street.

The entire time was fruitless, and he was running short on whatever time he had left.

But all he could do was look on helplessly at the mass of people that passed him by as he sat, wondering what to do.

-

-

-

"What's going on? Why am I still alive? What did you do to me?" Kairi muttered into the floor, not wanting to look at the spotless corpse of Roxas, who had been dragged into a corner of the room.

"I gave you my blood."

She looked up to the man in confusion. He didn't bother alleviating it.

"Now, you'll live even if the whole world goes insane. Just like me…" Sephiroth's eyes hardened as he spoke into the air, "That time is coming soon."

-

-

-

Sora sat down on the stone stairs, drained. "I need a drink…"

A familiar hand held a can before him, "Did you find what you wanted?"

Sora sighed and gratefully accepted what was given to him, but with no less bite in his voice, "No, I didn't want any of it."

Xemnas nodded in understanding as he looked over the city with the boy, "The world's a lot like that. People will often make stuff we don't want…"

"That one that someone made, that heartless disease… why did you give something like that to me?"

"Because… that pot was meant for you."

"And the present inside, A nano-machine that's shaped like lymphocyte. Right, Doctor Ansem?"

Xemnas chuckled for the just the shortest time, "Three years ago, a man came to Twilight Town, saying 'I've made a horrible device'. Heartless is designed to be able to pass by touch or through the air. Once it enters the blood stream, it begins a self-replication process. It binds to a lymphocyte, and moves wherever it wishes inside the body. It then reaches the brain and destroys it, then after destroys itself, converting into a simple protein, destroying any trail it left behind. That's what it's programmed to do."

"I just want to know one more thing. Why is Sephiroth still alive?"

-

-

-

Sephiroth moved past Kairi's bound form, towards the window that beheld a sun reddening with every passing moment.

"Why did you do this?" Kairi asked from the ground. "For money? Revenge? Or are you just having fun?"

"I'm just looking for a door."

"A door?"

"'I was dreaming, and I knew it was a dream. I didn't wake up, though.' Did you ever experience something like that before? When I was in Wutai, till now… it's always been like that."

-

-

-

"Sephiroth was an experiment. They placed Nanos called Nobody in his blood stream."

"Nobody?"

Xemnas walked down the stairs, explaining, "They're like Nano-machines in theory. They replicate just like Heartless, but it only concerns itself with destroying other nano-machines. In other words, he was an experimental vaccine. No, to be more specific, they were intending him to be a sort of soldier that was capable of acting inside dangerous environments. But the man who was supposed to stop the unstoppable became unstoppable himself. I don't know Sephiroth's true goal. I don't even know if he even has one. Maybe he'll wait until the end of the world, and receive judgment."

"And doesn't Doctor Ansem have an answer to everything? Both Heartless and Nobody?"

"He's already deleted the data and left the military. He didn't have any use for a vaccine since there was no virus. That was what he thought. Ansem is no longer here. He doesn't exist."

Xemnas looked into the air unhappily, "No one can stop Sephiroth now."

-

-

-

Sephiroth looked down into the streets, "I lost two things in Wutai. One was my past. At that time, I had no friends or enemies. The Heartless experiments had killed everyone. They sent me off as a guinea pig, just myself to live on, but I had already lost my memories. I don't even know who I am anymore."

"What's the other one?"

"I saw a butterfly. I saw many butterflies. Butterflies that were unimaginable."

-

-

-

"When Heartless reaches the brain, it seems you see a light, as though they were-"

-

-

-

"-The most beautiful butterflies in the world."

-

-

-

Xemnas looked up to the birds on the roof that suddenly took flight, "I think I've said too much."

Sora walked down to the Moroccan, his hand curled up around something, "Hey Xemnas, can you give this to Ansem if you ever see him again?"

Xemnas looked down for a second, before Sora fiercely curled up the fingers into a fist, which prompts found its way into Xemnas' gut, knocking him against the railing.

Sora smirked, "If I ever see you again…"

Xemnas chuckled and got back up, "Let's just leave it at that."

Picking up the sunglasses that scattered to the floor, Xemnas placed the black lenses over his orange irises, before sitting easily on the railing, "In that case, En Chara."

With that, he slid down the railing and away, with Sora shrugging and head back up the stairs-

Sora turned around, instincts forcing his eyes around him as men in uniform and Golden Snipers rushed around him, surrounded the gaping boy along the roofs, along both sides of the stairs. Everywhere. Pointed at him.

Sora raised his arms. "Geez…"

-

-

-

As the woman made her way into the director's office as asked of her, her shock was made apparent at the guns suddenly pointed at her. She did her best to remain calm.

"Can you explain the meaning of this, Commander?"

"Perhaps the explaining should come from you, Corporal." The director shot back smoothly as ever, the lackey scientist nearby and silent, "Especially about the Nobody Anti-Nano-Machines in your blood."

_Nobody!_ She was more shocked at knowing what was in her blood than her being found out about it.

"Rumors spread around fast in a building like this. Why is it that something Sephiroth was supposed to only have is now inside your blood?"

"Did you come into contact with Sephiroth?" The scientist asked bluntly. She didn't answer. They expected as much, as the scientist spoke again, "For hiding information, you'll be arrested."

"Commander! If there's a cure inside me, we can produce more and give it to the civilians!"

The director smirked, "You don't seem to understand…"

"What?"

"HOL-BAST's current and only goal is destroying anything related to Ansem's work. Heartless, Nobody… If it's not there, it shouldn't exist."

-

-

-

Which brought her to the present, being escorted along to the two dimly lit holding cells at the bottom of the building. A sterile, but still dirty little secret.

The first one was already occupied by a familiar spiky headed and overly laid back brunette, who raised an arm from his lying position, "Yo."

-

-

-

Riku slumped in his seat, alone in the control room of _Kingdom Hearts_, looking at the incomplete chessboard, musing aloud. Namine was in the back asleep, both of them waiting fruitlessly for the return of either Kairi or Sora.

"I wonder what sort of relationship we have with them now these days. It's not like I want to be overly protective of my friends, I'm not the type for that sort of thing. But everyone just keep going off and doing whatever they want and coming back when they feel like it. And I'm being swung around all the time, in the mean time. I'm getting tired of this. What happened to the days back on the island? One more move and I would have won… eh, what! No, Pluto!"

The dog backed away miserably from the attempt to move a rook. Riku softened up at that and moved to pet the dog, speaking to it.

"It's not like I care, I wouldn't care if they came back or not."

But really, he said it more to himself as he kept looking out the main viewing ports, hoping to see a light of a ship return to _Kingdom Hearts_. Or anything, at all, really.

-

-

-

"Just like the bet, really." Sora muttered to himself. "I joked that if I get tails, I'd take you out for a date. What a place for a night out."

"Aren't you afraid?" She asked from the other side of the wall.

"Afraid?"

"By the time we get out, we'd have lost or memories, or we'll be killed. Either way, our normal lives have been destroyed. Even if we live through this, it's like being dead…"

"Like Sephiroth?"

She raised her head from her slouch at that, while Sora walked to the bars, testing the width of empty space between each.

"If you're alive even after what happened on the train, that means Nobody is in your blood too."

"You seem to know a lot."

"It's like you said."

"Hmm?"

"'Knowing too much is a good way to die'."

"You're not the average bounty hunter, Sora."

"Seriously. It's just a waste of breath, calling yourselves a military unit."

"…My name is Aerith Gainsborough"

"Figures."

Hmm?"

"Nice, sharp name. Cute, but strong."

Aerith harrumphed in good manner, and leaned up against the side of the wall, "I never knew I had something like this inside of me."

As Sora also sat, Aerith wove a small tale, "Sephiroth is… that is, he's always been alone, from the moment he was born. From his youth, all anyone ever gave him was either honor or hatred. No one ever loved him. That's why I wanted to save him. I thought I could do it, honestly. It was all a misunderstanding, what happened on the train. Sephiroth looked at me like he was looking at a stranger. I'm already gone from his memories…"

"…You loved him?"

"I don't know. I didn't realize those sorts of feelings were inside of me. I didn't know, and I lost myself. My heart hurt. Have you ever felt something like it?"

"Yeah…"

"Maybe I was hoping for myself to be saved."

"Long ago, when I was younger, I was never afraid. I never thought about the moment I would die. I thought I was a hero, that I was invincible. Then I met a girl. I found friends again. I realized I wanted to live. I started to think like that, and for the first time, I was afraid of dying. I never felt it before."

"And where is she right now? Where are they?"

"Honestly? Somewhere. It's amazing really, you're really the first person I told about this sort of thing."

Silence.

Aerith asked, "Why are you going after Sephiroth?"

Sora looked upwards into the corner of the room, eyes twinkling at some hidden joke, "He feels like me. That's why I have to meet him again."

-

-

-

Kairi lay on the ground for the longest time. It would have been fine if day and night just passed. But in Twilight Town, she didn't know if days were passing or not. She was just bored, and tired of feeling her face on the wood.

"That man. He's called Sora or something?"

Here eyes widened and looked up in shock at the man who asked. Sephiroth smiled "I see. You are his friend."

"What do you know? What are you about to start?"

"I came here to end it. The last Party is about to start. The next type is a special type of Heartless. It doesn't destroy itself, it just keep reproducing. So that the entire world…"

"Taking the world with you? You're insane."

"Is that what you think? There is no line ever drawn between the sane and insane. You have to change the boundaries when you think it's right. No one else can. You'll understand soon, that the only thing insane is the world."

Kairi was silent.

"You want to come with me? The only ones left will be only you and me."

"You're joking. I'm not sure what the world's going to about to be, but I'd rather prefer not spending it with you."

Sephiroth walked over to her, a foot shoving her to her back, while he stood above her. One hand pulled a small dagger out of the folds of his coat. Crouching down, one hand drew the zipper of the front of her dress down to her navel, before the blade drew its way across the white fabric underneath, slicing cloth until it rested between the exposed sides of her breasts, ready to plunge down into her chest. The bounty huntress gulped leaned upwards as the blade moved to the underside of her jaw.

"…You should just live by yourself for eternity." She hissed.

A slamming at the door suddenly caught their attention. Sephiroth rose back up, and headed to the door. From where Kairi lay she could only hear voices.

"Sephiroth!"

"I told you not to come here."

"Er… I finished installing them inside the Jacks. I want to go now! The police are getting suspicious! So can you just give me the rest of the money?"

"Did you pray?"

"Eh?"

Kairi stiffened visibly at the sound of a man's chokes and a blade entering his body. Moments later, a body slid against the door and to the ground, the knife sticking out of his back. Sephiroth walked back to the Kairi, unaffected as much as she was affected. Kairi looked on from as she lay on her stomach, covering her breasts, while Sephiroth pulled on a harness of aged and broken angel wings, the remaining tattered piece spray painted pitch black.

"The bridge that connects the heavens and earth. I will be there. The only one that moves in this world. You may watch it as I complete this task."

With that, he swirled about and closed the door behind him.

-

-

-

Aerith's fitful slumber was promptly shut down at the sounds of footsteps. On the other side of the bars were the scientist and two men in military dress and weaponry.

"What's going to happen to me?" Aerith again bluntly asked.

"If you're a solider, you should be prepared."

She was silent as she brought herself to her feet, unafraid as she walked towards the locked gates. Sora meanwhile queried the guard in the back, "Hey, don't you have like a drink or food or something? I'm bored."

The guard snorted and turned back to the matter inside the next cell. Sora sighed, "Doesn't matter-"

Reaching his legs through the bars, Sora's soled foot crashed against the back of the guard's knee, toppling him backwards, and into the arms the reached across the bars as well, trapping the soldier.

In an instant from that confusion, Aerith had also reached out and grabbed the scientist by the back of his garb, while a deft hand stole his security blade and brought it up against his neck in sight of the soldier that brought his magic gun to point at the two of them.

"Wait-wait! Don't shoot!" The scientist begged the soldier from his grip.

"Drop your weapons. Open the door."

Meanwhile Sora was fishing around the guard's vest while he pinned him to the cell bars from the other side, "Hmm… gum. But I guess I'll take it."

The doors opened, the magic wards dissipating, allowing Sora's key chain to once more become a more powerful weapon at his command.

-

-

-

At the headquarters of Twilight Town's still ignorant security, Donald came over to the sight of alarm. "What is it!"

"It's a water processing plant. We were investigating, and we found Roxas' hacking traces all over it."

"Gwarsh, they were planning on spreading it across the city through the water?"

"Goofy! Send men to post a guard! Just watch us take this on!"

"B-but Donald! Shouldn't we, uh, get permission or something, in case we get in trouble?"

"If you keep acting so good, nothing's going to get done!"

-

-

-

Somewhere before the festival, a one winged angel quietly walked down the streets, hands in his pockets.

-

-

-

"Hey, Aerith, why don't we take a side trip?" Sora called out to his ally as they huddled on either side of the rising elevator.

"What?"

"You mentioned about your blood."

As they rushed out of the opening facility, Aerith led, "This way!" Entering another door, they came into a decontamination zone.

"We have to put on the suits!"

"There's no time!" Sora argued, running on ahead to the door on the other side.

"Are you kidding?"

"They'll be here soon, we have to move!"

Inside, Sora found his Keyblade pointed into the face of a spiky headed blondie wearing a containment suit, who jerked up with his hands raised at the sight of the weapon. On the other side Aerith was securing the other scientists.

"Where's Aerith's vaccine?"

"Umm… It's being produced right now," The man said, pointing to the humming slabs that were pushed into the sides of the wall, "It's in the third…no, second case."

Aerith walked up to one, "This one?"

"Yeah, the yellow packs."

As Aerith pulled the slab out of the wall, it revealed the yellow liquid inside blood packs on the shelves. Just to make a point, Sora tapped the end of his blunt weapon against the visor of the scientist, who protested. "I am telling the truth! It's just that the production isn't over yet. In twenty hours, each pack will have about ten thousand of them inside." He explained while the woman in pink pushed pack after pack into a small plastic box nearby.

As they ran off, the scientist spoke up again, "Aerith, I'm sorry!"

She turned around, to look back.

"You should take the level 3 disposal path if you want to get out of here."

She mused over it a second. "Thanks, Cloud."

He shrugged at her disappearing form with his raised arms, "I guess I have to wait another time for that date, huh?"

-

-

-

Kairi rolled across the ground towards the cooling body by the door, before she finally seated herself, back facing the corpse. "I seriously don't like to show myself like this to people." She tried to joke to herself, before her hands behind her back finally grasped the bloody handle of the blade in the man's back.

"Please go to heaven…"

She pulled the blade out.

-

-

-

Riku sat on the couch, foot tapping, and waiting for the radio on the table to come alive with anybody's voice at all.

Namine looked on, "You're waiting for a call?"

"Hmmm? No, not really."

"So you're not waiting for Sora or Kairi to call?"

Riku feigned cluelessness, "Really? I didn't notice them around here…"

The radio rung. Riku snatched it up before Namine even blinked.

"Hello! Hello?"

Kairi's voice came through, along with an extended sound of a zipper being pulled, "_Sephiroth left."_

"Hmph! And where've you been all this time?"

"_I think he's going all out this time. Seems like it's going to be a big party."_

"And how do you know all this?" Riku lectured into the mic, while the hatches of the door opened, letting Sora and an unfamiliar to Riku in, the boy carrying a large case with him, "Sora! You idiot! Where've _you_ been all this time, too and… who's she?"

"No time, what's up?"

"The Twilight Town security seems to have gone after a water plant."

"Water plant?"

-

-

-

Inside the control center of the water plant, Donald, ear over a headset, waited impatiently for the reports.

"_Squad two, there's nothing in tank three."_

"_Squad three, there's something suspicious at the entrance to plant four."_

"Good! I'll be sending an analysis group! What's it look like?"

"_Well… like a pumpkin shaped balloon."_

_-_

_-_

_-_

As Kairi took off in her _Oath Keeper_, she kept talking through the radio, "But isn't it weird to dress up like a fallen angel to go to a water plant?"

Aerith remembered a detail, "There's going to be a big Halloween costume parade that's going to head through the main streets and sectors of Twilight Town.

"Hiding a leaf in a forest, huh?" Sora mused.

"He's going to do it inside the city? How?" Riku muttered.

"_An ally of his came by today and said something about a Jack."_

"Jack?"

Sora nodded, "I got it…" and turned to a carved pumpkin made by Namine that sat by the vase.

Aerith's spoke aloud, "Jack-o-Lantern…"

Riku's eyes narrowed, "Jack's Lantern…"

The thought hit them both at once, and they turned to each other in horror

-

-

-

While the balloon's scanning began, Donald's presence in the control room was usurped by another, who entered the room with armed guards and a contamination suit.

"What's going on?" The wizard protested.

"This is the Marines! Who's in command?" The man demanded instead of answering.

"I didn't hear about an army movement!"

"This is an undercover investigation. The army is in charge from now on!"

"Oh yeah? What kind of action is this?"

"I have no need to tell you!"

"Oh yeah?"

Goofy called from the back, "Donald! The scanning thing is, er, finished!"

As the army man moved towards the computer screens, Donald despite his diminutive size, managed to shove him away. "Well! What is it? Tell me!"

The Marine commander shoved his body beside the wizard, glaring at him through the plastic visor, "Didn't I tell you to stay out of this?"

"Oh, butt off!"

"_The substance is Oxygen, Carbon, Carbon Monoxide, Iron, Neon, and Krypton. Meaning…it's just air."_

Goofy sneezed.

-

-

-

The hatches on the top of _Kingdom Hearts_ opened up, pulling to the surface _Excalibur_, Sora's personal gummi ship in finished red, a laser cannon on the bottom, and medium guns on the wings, for times like this.

Riku talked through the radio built into the cockpit, _"But the place is going to be filled with people."_

Kairi spoke next, _"But I heard it myself. He's going to be at a place where heaven and earth are connected, and moves."_

As the wing's opened up on either side of the craft, Sora hailed Riku, "After you get the all the vaccine and stuff into the empty water bottles we have, can you get a bunch of ships ready? Like twenty or thirty?"

"_What! Where are you going?"_

"I'm going ahead with _Excalibur_."

"_Hey! Wait!"_

Too late, Sora had already taken off. That matter taken care off, he called Kairi's ship next, who appeared into an easy course beside him, "Kairi, you remember Merlin?"

"_That old guy back in Traverse Town?"_

"You need to get there and tell him to make it rain Twilight Town. As hard as he can."

"_Are you kidding? I already told you, Sephiroth's going to live, even if the world's going to end! How's rain going to stop him?"_

"Don't worry! I have a little something to owe him." Sora called back as he left the atmosphere and just flew above the city. Twilight Town was bigger than one thought, and he would be flying a long way if he were to make it just to the "main" sections of the city.

"_That's impossible!"_

"Trust me. If he wanted to kill everyone, he'd have done it already."

"_Huh?"_

"This is just a party invitation. If there are no guests, there's going to be no party. Go Kairi, if you don't go, then this won't work."

Kairi blinked at the sheer quiet vehemence in the words as she flew. _"Besides! I'm counting on you! Excalibur out!"_ The princess frowned and hissed at the sudden silence before she angled her ship towards outer space.

"That idiot will never learn until he dies!"

-

-

-

Inside _Excalibur_'s cockpit, as Sora sat at cruising speed, the radar alerted him to three presences approaching from behind. Turning around in his half-bubble dome, he looked behind him to see the faint forms of three bulky ships with larger engines than his, flying in basic military form.

"What, the army doesn't have anything better to do?" The boy couldn't help but sneer at the trouble.

Back with the military craft, the ship on the far left opened a port to release two missiles that burned away after their small target. Afterwards the three craft dropped down on their sides to level out with their enemy.

Inside _Excalibur_, Sora grunted as he pulled his ship into a tight corkscrew, bringing himself dizzily upside down, "I don't have time to play with you!"

The agile red craft dove towards the harbor, while the two missiles swerved about him. Each exploded into a cluster of smaller warheads that Sora only barely managed to fly between. As the three militants dove, one of them opened with machine guns, tracing the water with explosions after _Excalibur_, which weaved towards the connecting transport bridge that stood above the water's surface.

While Sora struggled to keep the rattling flight sticks under control, plaster exploded around him, as the enemy's rounds exploded about him harmlessly across the underside of the bridge. With a trick, Sora barrel rolled and sped away, while a group of flares were dropped behind. Blinding the view of one pilot, one craft crushed its wing against the bridge after flying too close, unable to see till too late. A humiliated parachute and pilot jettisoned before the ruined engine consumed the rest of the craft.

Sora looked up as he watched the other side of the harbor come into the horizon.

-

-

-

Riku slammed his palm onto the counter of the rental gummi flight services, the aged man in the faded Hawaiian shirt unaffected.

"I'm telling you! This is an emergency! Can't you do something about it?"

"I'm sorry-"

Riku folded his arms unhappily.

"-but really, all the fighter planes were rented by a company, and there are none left."

"I don't have time! I don't care what it is as long as it flies!" Riku warned, leaning over the tabletop.

The Hawaiian shirt guy turned back to face the silver-haired youth, a mischievous look evident on his face. "_Anything_ that flies?"

Elsewhere, _Oath Keeper _had just broken into the atmosphere of Traverse Town, scattering the people in the main residence with ease.

-

-

-

_Excalibur_ followed the bridge towards the high natural rock wall that grew up from out of the sea, his pursuers on him the entire time.

Sora grinned, realizing the time; "I'm still too early for the Party."

As his red craft flew across the rocky cliffs, more machine gunfire came down upon him; twin trails of tracers exploded on either side of the thin craft, until a lucky shot scored a deep scorch along the nose. As Sora grunted with the sudden impact, he realized things were getting too hot.

_Then let's make it way too hot and see who gets out first!_

With that in mind, his thumb pressed against a particular switch on one of the handlebars. Outside, the laser cannon that was slung under the ship loosed itself and began charging. Outside his range, the remaining two military craft fired their own rocket payload, a frightening total of four heat seeking missiles chasing after him.

With the craft flying on its side, _Excalibur_ pointed its laser cannon to the left, the barrel releasing a bright blue blast upwards towards a group of boulders that were high up on the cliff. The ensuing explosion rocked the stones loose, with the red craft flying up into the falling rockslide with no trouble, dodging around the rubble with more intelligence than his heat-seeking attackers, catching two along the rocks. As he kept flying up, Sora released a bundle of chaff, confusing another missile into a premature explosion. One more agile maneuver skipped the last missile into a rock face, before flying up into the sky, an arc of burning tracer fire chasing after him, while _Excalibur_ twisted around into dive towards a columned shaped rock that jutted out particularly out of the cliffs. The three ships dove towards the harbor in a circular manner.

As one of the wings on Excalibur came close to clipping the stone tower, the machine guns on that end fired into the stone, eliciting more dusty explosions that chased after the two military craft as well. One of them was not so lucky, as one particular piece of rubble slammed into the ship, causing it to explode. As Sora righted his ship and flew back towards the city, one more craft remained in close pursuit.

-

-

-

In an airfield, gummi ships as old as time were lining up for take off. Some of them looked old enough to fall apart before even taking off. So ancient, some of theme without even the ability to head into space, with their exposed cockpits, and the multiple seats for gummi ship, where a modern model would only need one.

Riku gawked at the prehistoric display before him with their noisy engines. Next to him was Hawaiian Shirt.

"Well, even old planes are good." Hawaiian Shirt shrugged.

Riku's jaw was still unhinged, "Do they actually fly?"

A particular one rode to a stop near the duo, one of the multi-seaters, holding an unusual mix of a blonde man chewing a toothpick in the front, a girl with short black hair next, while a dazed man with a scarred nose sat staring at the sky in the novelty turret in the back.

"Just leave it to us, 'kay?" The girl called out from her seat, holding up a plastic drink bottle filled with yellow Nobody, "All we gotta do is just spread this around the city right?"

"And don't talk about us behind our back!" The blonde gruffly accused from his grip on the aged flight stick.

"Hey guys… are we going to space or something?" The Scarred guy mumbled, confused.

The girl turned back to scold the man's idiotic comment, "Don't be stupid! We're spraying pesticides around! Why the heck would we need to be in space?"

Riku shuddered under the display before him before pointing to the runway, "To the city! I want you to go the main sections!"

"I know that!" The blonde indignantly replied, "We're just messing with ya!"

Riku sighed as the plane took off with waving pilots. One by one, all the aged craft took off before Hawaiian Shirt and Riku. The former whistled.

"Wow. They actually fly. Sorry, but you understand these planes haven't been flown in for a while, so I have no idea how the engines are at the moment."

"WHAT?"

As on command, some good three or four planes plummeted out of the take off in flame and smoke, pilots bailing out.

Riku wiped his face with another sigh.

-

-

-

Driving at full speed along the highways, Aerith's car sped and weaved across the two-lane traffic, dodging the larger or slower vehicles as she moved with full force towards the Twilight Town's epicenter. Out of the corner of her windscreen, she could see a flash of light dancing towards the city.

That light, _Excalibur_ spun about the sky wildly, avoiding salvos of rounds at a time as they exploded around the unoccupied high-rises, due to the early celebrations. Still, they made for good cover, as Sora flew towards another body of water, this time a wide river. Ducking into a narrow alley, the two craft were wedged in tight, while the military pursuer opened up on Sora's unwavering flight. One shot buried itself deep into one wing of Sora's craft, letting it plume out in white smoke as he exited out into the river in a wide curve.

As the two flew across the river, the millitant's rounds scored another lucky shot, glancing across _Excalibur_'s exposed engine, this time the ship pouring out black fumes to go with the white smoke.

Sora, having enough with being rattled around, saw two large freighter boats in the distance, side by side. Pressing the button on the handlebar once more, Sora kept his path straight as his cannon charged.

Up above, the targeting reticules closed in on the red ship. Before the bulky fighter could attack again, though, Sora's large laser ripped another blast, splitting the water between the ships in a large plume of blue and white, which _Excalibur_ dove through. The enemy craft attempted to follow through the water as well, but only met face to face with a sizable portion of the boat, slamming it out of control and with many parts flying away as the pilot was force to eject from the explosion.

Sora was home free.

Well almost.

"C'mon! You ancient hunk of junk! Fly for another minute!" Sora complained as he kicked the inside of the cockpit, trying to magically ward off the groans and unnatural popping of the damaged craft with his mind.

Down below a young cabby driver, wearing a beanie unnatural to the temperature of the time, whistled as he clocked his time.

That was until a giant red gummi ship smoked to a skidding halt in front of him, forcing the cab to stop. The cockpit slid open, a kid jumped out and looked down at the cabbie.

The kid raised an arm. "…Hey! Taxi!"

-

-

-

"Merlin! You gotta believe me, you see-"

"Calm yourself, I know what's going on."

"You do?"

A sort of unnecessary grandfatherly chuckle, given the situation, "I have an eye for these sorts of things."

"Oh."

"You need rain, right?"

"As much of it as you can."

"You're going to help me with this, grab that box of cotton wool…"

-

-

-

Sephiroth walked along, examining the view from where he was, as he watched below the giant streamers and floating, bloated figures get pulled down the streets.

Among the forefront of the parade were a series of giant floating Jack-o-Lanterns with various faces, with several more interspersed between the various floats that were coming down the street.

Coming to a stop, Sephiroth let the winds blow through his clothes as he watched the greatest show in Twilight Town ready to unfold.

-

-

-

Sora impatiently rapped on the dashboard, the traffic jam in sight never seeming to end.

"Man, sorry, but this ain't good. The roads are all packed today because of the parade, you'll just have to wait, you know."

Just as Sora was about to lose it, something caught his eye. Gasping, he stood up and through the exposed roof, looking straight into the distance…

…At Twilight Town's biggest clock tower, towering over all the buildings.

_A bridge that connects the heaven and the earth, and always moves…_

Sora jumped out the taxi, leapt off the hood and took off running, amidst the reminders for the taxi fee.

-

-

-

Sora ignored the giant temporary neon letters that emblazoned themselves along the front of the clock tower, rather riding the ancient elevator that creaked its way up the tower, deafened out by the infinitely louder noises of grinding clock gears and machinery.

As the elevator made its way to the top, Sora shuffled out, hands in his pockets in a mock display of self-assurance, while he easily hopped onto the gigantic horizontal gears, chains and other cogs that shifted around the room. Finally making his way to the other end of the chamber, Sora kicked open the glass pane, the stain glass flipping open to reveal a broad ledge, and below, the rest of the world.

Night was falling fast; there was hardly any sun over the horizon now.

A harness holding a mock single wing fell from above. Sora whirled around, pointing his transformed Keyblade up at the metallic heavens above, searching for signs of movement in the darkness.

A high-pitch scream. Fire works exploded, illuminating the innards of the clock tower.

Black cloth fluttered from behind Sora. Whirling around again, the key master found Sephiroth leaping from one of the horizontal metal gear supports into a fall towards the boy, long sword in hand.

Sephiroth stabbed downwards. Sora raised his blade with a cry of "Fire!"

A blade sliced a spray of red across Sora's side. A bolt of fire incinerated Sephiroth's out reached hand, leaving burns that he did not register. As the burnt hand grappled Sora's face, he fell backwards, letting one foot kick into Sephiroth's hand gripping the sword, letting it flutter away somewhere as the two tumbled across the ground.

Sora rushed towards the older man, who simply slid around with a kick, knocking Sora's own weapon too far away to be reached in time. Sora simply backed away, fists balling.

"Am I too late for the Party?"

Sephiroth got to one knee and stared back, "No. You arrived just in time."

-

-

-

Down below, Aerith looked amongst the crowds in the parade, hoping for a clue of where Sora and Sephiroth went.

Up above, a fleet of aged gummi craft flew in the dying sunlight.

"I remember leading that attack bravely against that flying garden…" The Scarred one mumbled from his backwards-facing seat.

The girl smacked the back of his head, "That never happened! You read that in that fantasy book a week ago!"

"Hey guys! We're nearly there! Get ready!" The blonde toothpick-chewer called back.

In almost tandem, the ships one by one, started spraying a fine mist from their undersides, slowly beginning to douse the city at its slow rate…

-

-

-

Sora slid across the surface of the massive horizontal gear, one leg flailing towards Sephiroth, who ducked under the blow, only to receive a glancing fist to the jaw from the follow up momentum. From there the two parried and dueled with their fists, dancing around their necks and heads and they blocked chops and strikes, until Sephiroth caught a slow fist and pushed it back and forward, letting the opening expose Sora's side as he pummeled into it with a one-two-three, the last a massive drive into Sora's midsection, forcing him to bend over as he choked and coughed.

As Sora stumbled to his knees, Sephiroth confidently strode forward, until a heel of a palm smashed into his face, forcing him back while Sora leapt through the air with a flying soccer kick to the chest, landing on his feet and with several more blows with his fists before he twisted backwards with a kick to the chest.

Sephiroth reeled back, but slowed to a stop while he swung back forward with both fists crashing around Sora's temples as he retaliated, before one blow slammed into Sora's already bleeding side, nearly crippling the youth in pain, and another of unusual strength launched the boy unto his back where he slid for a few feet.

Amidst the screams of celebrations as balloons flew into the air and neon lights burning the sky, Sephiroth gauged his rising enemy with a predatory calm, "I'd knew you'd come back, bounty hunter. That last time… I barely missed killing you."

"Heh… so your eyes are more than just ornaments, huh?"

Sora stepped back quickly as Sephiroth moved in, feinting with his fists as his leg moved like rubber and kicked straight up into the bounty hunter's jaw. Dazed just for the slightest, he missed his next two punches, while the Ex-SOLDIER smashed another one into his gut and backhand knocked Sora back into a metal girder, where he slumped just the slightest.

As Sephiroth moved forward again, Sora jumped out of the way of a crashing foot, and prepared himself as the madman launched forward into an assault. Sora kept up as best he could, but Sephiroth's fists only helped make openings for his legs to suddenly slam into Sora's body again and again. For a moment, as they jumped off the gears and onto the service ledges surrounding the machinery, Sora regained momentum, as he slapped away Sephiroth's offences, pounding away several times into his chest and face, before he accidentally overreached, letting Sephiroth grab his arm and throw him to the ground, smashing through several electrical cables that were temporarily installed.

-

-

-

Outside Aerith watched is surprise as the "H" on the neon "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" began to spark before shorting out.

Something was up in the clock tower.

As she dashed towards the building, rain began to fall…

-

-

-

Water began leaking through the roof of the clock tower, letting rivulets and drops of water splash around them, as Sephiroth kicked Sora towards the edge of the moving gear teeth. With the next falling kick, Sora grabbed the foot with a grunt and twisted it away, causing Sephiroth to stumble backwards as Sora rushed towards him. A flurry of kicks towards Sephiroth's face knocked him back against a vertical column that held the horizontal gear they were on in place.

Leaning forward with a groan, Sephiroth was greeted with several more kicks point blank across the chest as Sora hammered away, the madman's body rocking against the steel, before another kick to the shins made Sephiroth stumble back. A spinning roundhouse kick smashed across Sephiroth's face, then Sora rocked away with two more punches. As Sora swung again, Sephiroth ducked, and grabbed an arm, pinning it behind the boy's back, while another inhumanly strong grip clamped about Sora's injured side, drawing more pain and blood. As the two struggled for a few second, Sora gagged and screamed back, his remaining free arm slamming an elbow again and again into Sephiroth's face until it nearly showered blood, before the grip was loosened, letting Sora stumble forward, off the gear and into a group railings situated on a stone section.

Sora panted. Sephiroth remained amused through his broken face.

"Did you come here to save the world?" Sephiroth hummed, as he reached into the coat to pull out a jackal-headed stainless steel detonator, "You're too late."

"Sorry, old man. But we're not security or police or any of that stuff. Our concern's not about the world… I'm just here to pay back a debt." Sora managed to gasp out through a one eyed grin.

Sephiroth sneered, "You don't think I'll do it? I'll really do it."

"Do it." Sora taunted.

Bringing the detonator closer to his face, Sephiroth slammed the Jackal head down. Across the city there were sounds of concussive explosives, as all the giant floating Jack-o-Lanterns exploded outwards, releasing their invisible payload into the crowds.

Sora was really tired, running around and fighting for days on end. He just wanted a nap-

_Ugh. But I have to finish this…_

Sora groaned before pulling himself off the ground, frustrated and ready to deal this a finishing blow. Approaching Sephiroth, the two jumped back onto the rotating gear, pacing around each other in a wide circle.

Sora charged in with renewed vigor. Sephiroth didn't even get a chance to properly react, as the key master punched away, dragging him forwards and backwards and smashing into his face and gut with elbows, fists, and palm. A caught foot simply made Sora swirl around with his free limb, slamming the Ex-SOLDIER away. In a single deft move, Sora slammed into Sephiroth with a spinning kick, scattering his foe across the floor.

Sora coughed.

And coughed again.

Rubbing his eyes, he watched in horror as his vision began to swim in double, while his lungs started to feel like they were collapsing. Soon the strength poured out of his legs, forcing Sora to his knees. Across his vision, roving flights of bright butterflies appeared. Moving across the ground with agonizing slowness, Sora crept towards a familiar glint of his deactivated key chain that just lay within his reach…

A pair of booted feet and a swish of trench coat stepped in the way, a sickening singsong of too-long blade emerging from somewhere. Sora glared through the confusion of his eyes. Sephiroth watched on.

The two of them stood as Butterflies swarmed in flight around them.

"Before you depart from this world, can you show me something? I'm already dead from Wutai, but this world the butterflies show me… is it a dream? Or is their world the real one, and the world I was, the dream? I don't really know anymore."

"Sephiroth!" Came the cry of a new voice. Sephiroth averted his sword just the slightest to see Aerith pointing her staff at him, "I'm not letting you get away!"

Wordlessly, Sephiroth moved his open palm towards the woman, hand glowing with energy. Down below, Sora choked.

"Don't… Aerith!"

"It's alright Sephiroth… let's go, together."

She closed her eyes. Sephiroth didn't even blink. Then something flinched.

Thundering of energy through the air.

When Aerith opened her eyes again, she realized she wasn't dead. But Sephiroth was lying across the floor on his back, chest smoking.

"Sephiroth!"

The two approached the fallen body. Sora gave a tired glare, "Why didn't you shoot?"

For the first time, Sephiroth's eyes did not glaze from a dream, "I remembered… who I really loved."

Aerith breathed heavily.

"I wanted to get out of there… I wanted to find a door to do it… I finally know now…there was no door."

Sora sighed, "You should have known before. You were just afraid to see the truth."

"Yes… Aerith… from the time I lived…being with you was the only time I felt… real… It was good to see you before I left…"

Sephiroth shut eyes from the falling water, and slept.

Aerith shut her eyes and drove her face upwards, letting the falling water wash her welling emotions away.

Sora looked up, and watched the glowing butterflies that hovered about the tower slowly disappear back to nowhere.

-

-

-

Kairi watched the rainfall from the bubble encasing of _Oath Keeper, _as she floated back to Twilight Town, the city covered in darkness of cool night. "What did the rain do?"

Next to her ship was Riku's vehicle, _High Wind_, whose pilot explained, "Before the Heartless machines could spread, the rain helped made Nobody spread faster. You could say it was a blessing."

"After the rain, there's usually a rainbow…"

A thought hit Kairi, "Say, for a celebration, why not see some games at Setzer's?"

Riku laughed for a second, happy for some return to normalcy as watched the gas light around the city come to life with the neon signs, "You'll never get tired of that, huh?"

-

-

-

**Re-Cast:**

**Spike Spiegel: Sora**

**Jet Black: Riku**

**Faye Valentine: Kairi**

**Ein: Pluto**

**Edward: (UGH! I GIVE UP!) … Namine…**

**Vincent: Sephiroth**

**Electra: Aerith**

**Hacker guy (Lee Samson): Roxas**

**Pumpkin Guy (White Collar): Axel**

**Dr. Mendelo: Ansem/ Xemnas**

**Scientist guy: (Extras)**

**Head Scientist guy (Director): (Extras)**

**Scientist guy that likes Electra: Cloud**

**The Army: (Extras?)**

**Black Police Officer: Donald**

**White Police Officer: Goofy**

**Police Officer for Riku: Colt (Officially a recurring character with this)**

**Thief 1 (Engine/Renji): Xigbar**

**Thief 2 (Black one): Luxord**

**Thief 3 (Riku's): Demyx**

**Thief 4 (Washroom): Xaldin**

**Cabbie: Seifer**

**Three Old Men: Cid, Yuffie, and Squall**

**Executive Producer: Person With Many Aliases**

**Production: Person With Many Aliases/ Disney/ Square-Enix**

**Based on the Story by: Hajime Yatate**

**Character Design: Tetsuya Nomura**

**Co-Director: Person With Many Aliases**

**Director: Shinichiro Watanabe**

-

-

-

_He was just…all alone. _

_He couldn't enjoy a game with anyone else._

_Like living inside a dream…that's the kind of man he was…_

Sora opened his eyes from where he lay on the couch, and watched a flicker of light dance above his hand. Dazedly he reached for it, and grabbed.

Opening his palm to his face, he found he had caught nothing at all.

-

-

-

**ARE YOU LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD?**

-

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**KINGDOM HEARTS: KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR: END**

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A/N: This make a third Seasonal Special down. I hope you all enjoyed writing this as much as I did. At times I felt I relied too much on the Cowboy Bebop plot to help bring out the aspects of Kingdom Hearts beyond just a simple re-casting. My Naruto one, in that sense was a lot better done as well. But that's not to say this was bad by any stretch. When I wrote this, given the amount of effort it took to do the last one, I was honestly afraid I wouldn't be able to complete this in time. Yet here I am, before and on time.

Happy Halloween to any of my readers of this work.

-Person With Many Aliases


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